Shannon Mowday, saxophone
- (c) Julia Housdon
South African performer, composer and arranger, Shannon Mowday was introduced to music from an early age by her father, starting on clarinet then moving to saxophone, piano and flute with the baritone saxophone becoming somewhat of her speciality. Educated in Cape Town and Oslo she awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz in 2007.
Shannon has performed with some of South Africa's greats such as Winston Mankunku (late), Busi Mhlongo (late), Themba Mkhize, Robbie Jansen (late), Oliver Mtukudzi, Vusi Mahlasela, Gloria Bosman, Sylvia Mdunyelwa, Concord Nkabinde, Carlos Mombelli, Kevin Gibson and has worked extensively and recorded both CD and DVD with singer Sibongile Khumalo. International artists she has worked with include Bugge Wesseltoft, Ingrid Jenssen, James and John Morrison, Steffen Schorn, Danilo Perez, John Fedchock, Jeroen van Vliet, Johan Horlen, Mike del Ferro and Karl Martin Almqvist to name a few.
She performed with her band Galumphing at all the major jazz festivals in South Africa (Cape Town International, Joy of Jazz, Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Jazzathon) and African Eyes in Germany (Leipzig, Berlin) and Australia (Sydney) where she also recorded her CD African Eyes. Other solo and collaborative projects include tours to Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Australia, Scandinavia, Paris, China, Germany, Malaysia, America, Finland, Turkey and Switzerland. Her music has been written from a duo setting to symphony orchestra and in the last few years has worked extensively as a soloist with all the major orchestras in South Africa (Cape Town Philharmonic, Eastern Cape Philharmonic, Durban Philharmonic, Johannesburg Festival Orchestra). She has also written and performed music for award winning TV documentary series Impresario, which focuses on South African actors and actresses. She has initiated concerts for 'Musicians against Crime' and been involved in campaigns for healing through music as well as having had been extremely involved in music education locally and internationally.
She is currently living in Norway and has established several projects which are currently performing. 'MØTE', which explores traditional African music with a contemporary jazz approach which has had performances, collaborations and workshops in Norway, Swaziland and South Africa. 'The Land In between' – a project which combines contemporary jazz, folk, classical, free and through composed music. The 'Shannon Mowday Ensemble' explores improvising composition. Her trio has performed and recorded in South Africa and Norway. She has also performed with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra with music of Elin Rosseland and under directorship of Erlend Skomsvoll.
She has performed as soloist, composes for and conducts Big Bands and Wind Bands in Norway (e.g. Jazzå Police Orchestra, Hamar Orchestra, Elverom Big Band, Nes and Vollen Big bands). She has also been invited to compose for the Jazzwerkstatt festival in Switzerland 2012
Other international collaborations and projects include Jazmyne,(South Africa-Scandinavia), SAFRA (South Africa-France), North Sea Big Band (South Africa-Norway), ISIS (South Africa, Scandinavia, France) and BURN! along with Hildegunn Øiseth (Norway) and Karin Hammar (Sweden).
She gave a presentation at the Nobel Peace Prize Centre and at the ethnomusicology Department at NTNU