50th Anniversary of Soweto Youth Uprising with Bokani Dyer Trio
About This Event
At Dizzy's Club, Motswana–South African pianist-composer Bokani Dyer brings his 50th Anniversary of the Soweto Youth Uprising project with the Bokani Dyer Trio, framing the 1976 student protests through contemporary jazz. Dyer’s writing and improvising—drawing on electronic textures, R&B, salsa and classical reference points—moves between groove-based arrangements and open improvisation, treating commemoration as a compositional principle and favoring structural clarity.
About 50th Anniversary of Soweto Youth Uprising
At Dizzy’s Club, pianist-composer Bokani Dyer brings his trio to a program marking 50 years since the Soweto Youth Uprising, a watershed moment in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid. Dyer, a Motswana–South African artist, works from a jazz foundation while drawing on electronic production, R&B, salsa, and classical language, shaping the trio as both band and archive. The set functions as commemoration rather than reenactment, tracing how political memory lives in sound. In New York, the context matters: this music arrives as testimony within a city’s ongoing dialogue with the global history of resistance.
About the Artists
50th Anniversary of Soweto Youth Uprising
50th Anniversary of Soweto Youth Uprising is a project presented at Dizzy’s Club in New York City, marking the legacy of the 1976 student protests in Soweto through a contemporary jazz lens. The program is led by Motswana–South African pianist, composer, and producer Bokani Dyer with the Bokani Dyer Trio, drawing on his work across jazz, electronic music, R&B, salsa, and classical influences.
Bokani Dyer Trio
The Bokani Dyer Trio is a small-group jazz project led by Motswana–South African pianist, composer, and producer Bokani Dyer. In New York City, the trio appears at Dizzy’s Club with programs that can carry specific historical focus, including a set marking the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Youth Uprising.