NDUDUZO MAKHATHINI

1835: Surrounded by his subjects, Zulu king Dingane celebrates a brilliant pianist, as his entourage dances itself into a trance – a cultural golden age in a Southern African kingdom. WOOSH! A leap in time. Two sizeable pandemics later, in 2018, shortly before the next big one, the same pianist releases music internationally on "compact disc", a medium still widely available at the time, music that continues to manifest the same tradition: Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds. (whirrrr! ...eject.) Crazy, no?! How is that even possible?
Captain Niederrhein comments on this glitch in the matrix thusly:

"Even the nomad in his workaday tent somewhat soiled
Leads his scruffy children through our depressive world
Switches horses and locales, knows each horizon long and wide
Rides from life to life till reaching what cannot be recognised"

- whizzing past quietly aboard his white schooner... (wheeee!)

Alright, a little explanation: according to the deeply rooted codex of these warriors of Bantu origin, music is intimately linked to their inner lives, their driving force and healing. And it can come to pass, though an exceedingly rare occurrence, that a chosen individual is somehow (for instance, through the effects of a solar particle storm) granted the ability to travel in time. Nothing Earth-shattering basically – though the product of a higher love to be sure…
At Makhatini's side, this year Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere is plucking the strings, while Francisco Mela is currently caressing the skins.
And so, it is Nduduzo Makhathini's noble mission to protect the unique character of South African music through the ages – against Dutch trading companies, through the Boer Wars, against racist segregation and also as a stance against Geert Wilders' stupid haircut (WOOSHEE!).