Some music is heard.
Some music is remembered.
And some music deserves to be written down so that it can travel far beyond the person who first created it.
For Dr Sibusiso “Mash” Mashiloane, that journey has now reached the page.
The Durban-based pianist, composer and scholar has released Sounds of Home: Compositions Book One, a collection of 60 original, notated compositions available as a free digital download.
It is the first book in a planned series. More importantly, it captures years of music that had lived largely through performance and memory and gives musicians, students and educators an opportunity to engage with it in written form.
From memory to music
Mashiloane’s work has long explored the relationship between South African jazz, identity, community and the idea of home.
Now, Sounds of Home brings that musical journey together in one collection.
The 60 compositions reach across different periods of his work, including early pieces and compositions connected to his acclaimed ISIGQI project.
Each composition is accompanied by programme notes written by Mashiloane himself.
These notes offer insight into the people, places and moments behind the music, giving readers more than musical notation. They provide context for the stories and experiences that shaped each piece.
The collection includes tributes to family and mentors, reflections on township life and South African identity, as well as compositions rooted in isigqi — the organising pulse at the centre of Mashiloane’s musical and academic work.
For Mashiloane, putting the music on paper is about more than preservation.
It is about allowing the music to move.
“This music has always lived in performance and in memory. I wanted it to also live on the page, where other musicians could pick it up, learn from it, and carry it forward.”
That intention is reflected in one of the defining features of the project: the book is free.
Mashiloane says the music was shaped by community and belongs back with that community.
A resource for the next generation
The decision to make the collection freely available gives the project significance beyond Mashiloane’s own catalogue.
Musicians can access the compositions. Students can study them. Educators can use them as a teaching resource. And readers around the world can explore a body of South African jazz work that might otherwise have remained primarily within live performance and personal memory.
The complete 60-composition collection is available immediately as a free PDF through Mashiloane’s website.
Those who would prefer a physical copy can also pre-order a printed edition through the same platform.
A career rooted in jazz and scholarship
The release builds on a career that sits at the intersection of performance, composition and academia.
Mashiloane holds a PhD in Music from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he lectures at the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music.
He has released eight albums, with his most recent being Isigqi: Live at the bird’s eye, recorded in Basel with Swiss musicians.
His work has also reached international stages and institutions.
In 2024, Mashiloane composed the ISIGQI Suite for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Carnegie Hall.
His achievements have been recognised with a NIHSS Award, an AFRIMA Award and multiple Mzantsi Jazz Awards.
But Sounds of Home offers another dimension to that legacy.
It creates a written record of the compositions themselves.
Bringing the book together
The project has also brought together a team of creatives and music specialists.
Jazz writer Gwen Ansell edited the book, while Pascal Haas and Mashiloane handled the music formatting.
Brandon Ryan worked on the book design and layout, with Sanele Balintaba responsible for the cover design.
The project was managed by Marlyn Ntsele of iSupport Creative Business.
The book also features a foreword by pianist and scholar Neil Gonsalves, who was previously Mashiloane’s lecturer.
The afterword comes from pianist Darius Brubeck, who introduced the first Jazz Studies degree programme in Africa at the University of Natal, now the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where Mashiloane currently lectures.
Keeping the music moving
At its heart, Sounds of Home: Compositions Book One is about continuity.
A composition can begin with a person, a place or a moment. It can be performed once, performed hundreds of times, remembered by musicians and passed from one player to another.
But putting that composition on the page creates another pathway.
It allows someone who has never heard the original performance to encounter the music.
It allows a student to study it.
It allows another musician to interpret it.
And it allows the work to travel.
For Mashiloane, that is precisely the point.
Sixty original compositions have moved from performance and memory onto the page — and from the page, they are now available to the world.
How to access Sounds of Home
Sounds of Home: Compositions Book One is available as a free PDF download at www.sibumash.com.
A printed edition can also be pre-ordered through the same website.
For musicians, students, educators and anyone interested in South African jazz, this is more than a book of compositions.
It is an invitation to listen, learn, play and carry the music forward.
