They called her Brenda Fassie or Boom Shaka where she grew up in Mabopane, north of Pretoria, because she loved singing and dancing.
For female saxophone player and vocalist Lesego Nkonyane, things were just starting. Having started at a young age excelling as a dancer, the 42-year-old musician knew from a young age that she belongs to performing arts. It was no surprise she ended up enrolling at Fuba Music School in Newtown, Johannesburg.
She fell in love with the saxophone, an instrument mainly played by men. Years later, Nkonyane – whose stage name is Les-Ego – has deeply immersed herself into the jazz genre, blowing her horn on festival stages.
After spending 15 years honing her skills with Ladies In Jazz, an all-female jazz ensemble under the leadership of Anikki Maswanganyi, she launched her solo career with an Afro-jazz album in 2015, aptly title Lesego La Me (my luck). It was followed by a gospel/jazz album in 2018 and recently Nkonyane dropped her third solo project Ke Nale Modisa.
Nkonyane said she switched to gospel/jazz because Afro/jazz was just an overpopulated sound.
“I felt that I was connecting with people with gospel/jazz music. When you listen to Afro jazz there is no diversity, it is almost like listening to the same sound. My first album was an Afro jazz album but I quickly realised that I had to explore. I found it very interesting playing a gospel music with an instrument. With this style I am taking jazz to church. Whether you love gospel or jazz, when I play you can relate,” Nkonyane says.
“As an independent artist, I have freedom to explore any sound. I don’t have to be stuck in one genre because the recording company says so. I have a choice to try different things.”
Her latest project boasts a beautiful saxophone sound merged with beautiful vocals over a tapestry of rearranged well known church hymns, including the title track Ke Na Le Modisa. Other songs in the album include He Lifted Me Up, Jwale Le Ka Mehla, Motseng wa Sione, Semphete and Joko Ya Hao.
As much as she is doing fairly well as a solo artist, Nkonyane credits her success to the mentorship she got from Maswanganyi.
She also recalls that when she got to Fuba, she was introduced to a lot of things, including jazz music, which made it easy for her to make her choice.
Nkonyane says she chose the saxophone because other students were intimidated by the large instrument.
“They picked up their instruments and left saxophone alone. Ka re ke batla e (I said I want this one). I remember when I picked it up, one of the male students said this instrument was for men. I said to him I want to be that woman who plays an instrument played by men.”
As an actress, she has appeared in local films , including Bubble Bosoms by Nakedi Ribane and Connie Chiume.
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