McCoy Mrubata

Saxophonist, flute player, band leader and composer

Born in 1959 in Cape Town’s historic Langa township, South Africa. Reedman McCoy Mrubata grew up with the sounds of African music: the soulful hymns of the Zion Church, the chants and rhythms of traditional healers and the brassy jive of the Merry Macs band who rehearsed opposite his home. When schooling became impossible in the fiery aftermath of the 1976 uprising, the young McCoy then playing flute studied informally under Langa greats like Madoda Gxabeka, the Ngozi brothers, Winston and Thulisile, the Ngcukanas, Ezra and Duke, Blackie Tempi and Robert Sithole.