Moses Taiwa Molelekwa
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Moses Taiwa Molelekwa(born April 17, 1973 in Tembisa; died February 13, 2001) was a South African jazz pianist from a family of jazz musicians. His father was nicknamed "Monk", by the jazz society he belonged to, for his understanding of Thelonius Monk. Despite that poverty and issues concerning apartheid caused Moses education in his childhood to be haphazard, at best. His father aided his musical education as best he could and as soon as he could afford a keyboard Moses showed promise. This led to his entering the Federal Union of Black Arts, which he graduated from in 1987 with honors and then made his professional debut.
In the next few years he played with Miriam Makeba, Jonas Gwangwa, and others. In 1988 Hugh Masekela asked him to join his bands and this period saw him winning the first of several awards. His solo career began in 1994 with the debut Finding Oneself. By 1996 he had gained widespread attention as a solo artist winning two FNB South Africa Music Awards for traditional jazzand was seen as a rising star in South African jazz.
He also played outside South African tradition or society. He played at the North Sea Jazz Festival and worked with Brazilian singer Flora Purim on his second album. He also did work beyond jazz with TKZee.
The following years saw other successes, but on February 13, 2001 he and his wife Florence 'Flo' Mthobo were found dead. He had been hung while she had been strangled to death. They had an eight year old son at the time.
