BIOGRAPHY SAUSAGE FILM COMPANY

Sausage Films was founded by poet, heritage practitioner and military veteran Vusi Macingwane Mchunu and author the Story of South African Jazz (SOSAJ) book series Struan Douglas with the missions of adapting Stories of South African Jazz and Liberation to screen.

Founded by writers with the intention of preserving and promoting cultural heritage for educational purposes, Sausage Films has created a rich and extensive reservoir of cultural resources and projects. A digital and innovation award winner, Sausage Films is at the forefront of hybrid digital co-creation and access of resources to empower the future generations with quality free education.

By sharing the know-how of South African arts and culture pioneers, Sausage Films projects are not only a profound documentation of cultural memory and heritage, but also a living inspiration for our creatives of tomorrow.

To date Sausage Films has completed successful projects with the Department for Arts, Culture and Heritage, National Arts Council, Business Arts South Africa, Presidential Employment Stimulus, National Film and Video Foundation, Eastern Cape Development Corporation and German Embassy of South Africa.

Sausage Films publishes new learning resources for arts and culture heritage education. To date Sausage Films has published 4 seasons of iMbizo yamaKhono (gathering of the arts) Music Education Resources. Season One "Attunement," Season Two "Assimilation". Season Three "Afrika Year," and Season Four, "uBuntu." Sausage Films has published The Johnny Dyani Songbook and is in development in a script on the life and times of Busi Mhlongo.

Sausage Films hosts the annual Eastern Cape Jazz Heritage Cultural exchange and multiple arts education workshops and iMbizo’s year round. Sausage Films encourages independence and self-management in music, film, creative economy and content creation ensuring all freelance employees benefit from agency and on-the-job training in the creative processes.

Sausage Films well-researched production and documentation of South African living cultural treasures in the arts is highly relevant to audiences of all ages and has found strong and willing engagement from university students, scholars, community centres, academies, entrepreneurs and young professionals.

COMPLETED PROJECTS

iMbizo yamaKhono Gathering of the Arts (2020 – Current)

Season 1: Attunement (2020) see out to listen and to hear the beautiful South African musical family in all their expressions. Music is one thing, but it is the stories that attune our ears, hearts and minds to the influence music has in our lives.

8 Episodes 5 minutes each: E01: The art of 1-4-5 with Lwanda Gogwana journey’s into the elegant and classy music of marabi and the typical south African heritage of the 1-4-5 progression. E02: Sonic Nuances with Siya Makuzeni is a wildly eclectic and versatile ride into the presentation of the voice as an instrument both original and unique. E03: Power of the Song with Masauko Chipembere bring songs writing ideas to the future generations. E04: 6/8 rhythm with Eugene Skeef is an inspiration for the rhythmic connections of Africa. E05: Bafo Mentor with Madala Kunene provides insight to the transformative rhythmic 2-chord Zulu blues of Madalaline music. E06: Freedom with Sifiso Ntuli is an important history of revolution through music in Tanzania, Canada and New York. E07: You-ology with Zaide Harneker is an inspiration for every creatives journey into the heart of self-knowledge. E08: Music Rights with Internet Tony disentangles the complex music rights landscape.

Season 2: Assimilation (2021) expands to include Live Music Performances in a Workshop setting. In partnership with AMPD studios, Season Two, elevates learning in new directions of self-expression and sustainable practices through brilliant protagonists of diverse music genres and practices. 8 Episodes 10 minutes each: E01: Jazzoetry is my life with Lefifi Tladi rediscovers the authentic, sovereign and unifying African cultural heritage of Black Consciousness. E02: Order creates Comfort with Tu Nokwe turns the light on for African creative and emotional development. E03: On the Shoulders of Giants with Prince Lengoasa shares the music and approaches of the greats of SA jazz. E04: Vernacularism with Yonela Mnana presents a uniquely south African approach to music creation. E05: Re-invention with Octavia Rachabane shows that a career in music is what you make of it. E06: Spirit of Play with Mark Fransman bares the process of a talented African musician in his studio of musical dreams. E07: Magic & Mystery of Sound with Steve Tsakiris is a sound journey into the universal soul and mind of world music. E08: Making SA music international with Dan Chiorboli showcases the musical mission of taking the soul of African music to the world.

Season 3: Afrika Year (2022) broadens the musical learning deeper into the reaches of indigenous and Pan African arts and culture. Titled Afrika Year as a celebration of the year 2022, superstar musicians showcase the power of popular and traditional cultures including sangoma, jazz, gospel, maskandi and reggae. 5 Episodes 12 minutes each E01: Drumming in Yin and Yang with Anikki Maswanganye is a powerful woman’s perspective in navigating the industry through body mind and soul. E02: Power to the Woman with Bonny Zulu awakens the inner musical voice through storytelling. E03: Vumani Bo! Align Yourselves! with Geoff Tracey merges music expression with the medical and spiritual values of indigenous sangoma culture. E04: Maskandi: preserve and innovate with Qadasi & Maqhinga shares the fusion of indigenous knowledge and folk music that has taken the world by storm. E05: Instrument of the people with Tidal Waves is a musical rock of the original music that has inspired an original people.

Season 4: uBuntu (2025) profiles five unique wisdom keepers of South African musical culture and heritage in a hybrid documentary style with live recordings and interviews mixed with cut-aways, archives and personal memoires in a dynamic and engaging resource. (5 Episodes 15 minutes). E01 Afrikan Safari follows the journey of Morri Natti a Maasai boy who developed the cross-cultural style, “mashariki muziki”, which combines influences from all over Africa and the world. E02 Tososeletso / Enlightenment explores 4 ancient musical instruments serotorotoro, mbira, uhadi, ixharra with multi-instrumentalist Mosoeu Ketlele. E03 Marabi Melodies is lead by Moss Mogale and CAFCA (Committed Artists for Cultural Advancement) to preserve a living archive of two great jazz stories of the North - Marabi and Malombo. E04 Music Provolution Is the story of Guillaume Rossouw aka Gill Gap, the godfather of punk and now the founder of provolution. E05 Masakhane profiles the longevity of Retsi Pule to infuses and inculcates in the minds of the youth a different approach to singing jazz.

United Through Music Germany / SA Cultural Exchange (2022 – Current) Jazz Against Apartheid Homecoming (2022)

Germany / Eastern Cape cultural exchange live performances and workshops Since 1986 JAA has hosted over 100 concerts in Europe and the USA. JAA has a long tradition of funding providers who fought together with the cultural activists abroad to ensure that the apartheid system ends. It was only in 2021 that the contribution of his artistic-political work in exile was recognized officially through the OR Tambo Presidential award to his co-founder Jürgen Leinhos. In 2022 Sausage Fill Company hosted Jazz Against Apartheid on a “Homecoming” tour to the Eastern Cape, Duncan Village, Dyani's birthplace and to the Steve Biko Centre. In the workshops in Duncan Village a feeling of pride was conveyed in "one of us" one who had made it in the world and now brought renowned musicians from abroad back home to the township. The main goal of this first tour to South Africa was to make South Africans aware of the hidden treasures of their own culture.

Jazz Against Apartheid Beyond Exile (2023) Germany / Eastern Cape cultural exchange live performances and workshops In 2023 the second edition of this tour came about under the title Beyond Exile, expanding to include Johannesburg. The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Center and the Music Academy of Gauteng (MAG) joined as hosts whilst students from MAG, CAFCA (Committed Artists for Cultural Advancement) and several other music schools in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Soweto and Krugersdorp participated. The 2023 events in Duncan Village and the Biko Centre brought in students from neighboring townships Mdantsane and Duncan Village bringing in a new focus of jazz for rural development. What was indicated in Johannesburg and Buffalo City with the workshops, gala performances, dialogue sessions and the exhibitions was how important it is to expand South Africa's cultural memory to include the topic of exile to further promote mutual understanding through encounters and learning together.

Johnny Dyani Songbook (2023) Biography and Sheet Music The JAA inter generational program made a powerful educative and creative input. The practical output of such a program which had international musicians, community musicians, music students, and local musicians fully engaged in workshops necessitated the transcription licence and publishing of the Johnny Dyani compositions. The Johnny Mbizo Dyani Songbook includes 20 Compositions as recorded on the albums Afrika, Angolian Cry, Mbizo, Song for Biko and Born Under the Heat (1979 – 1984), licenced from Steeplechase Records, transcribed in concert pitch C, Bass Clef, and Bb for trumpet and Eb for alto, by saxophonist Daniel Guggenheim and thanks to Jürgen Leinhos, founder of Jazz Against Apartheid. Introduction by Struan Douglas, forward by Vusi Mchunu.

Jazz Against Apartheid to Jazz for Rural Advancement (2024) Eastern Cape music photography workshops live performances and dialogues In 2024 in alignment with the 30 years of democracy and transition to the government of national unity, Jazz Against Apartheid embraced the important contemporary cause of “Jazz for Rural Development,” as a necessary and positive intervention. The 2024 events included live performances with local musicians and compositions, workshops and jam sessions emphasises the local jazz heritage of the province, an immersive photographic exhibition and photographic workshop and engaging dialogue sessions. This brought much needed awareness to the music of the Eastern Cape and birthed the vision “Imvuselelo” reviving the richness of the Eastern Cape. Urban Zulu : The Busi Mhlongo Story (2023 – current) 52 minutes (TV) 70 minutes (Cinema) (Directors Rehad Desai, Ton van der Lee. Co-producer Submarine Holland. ) An intimate and immersive account of the life, talent and struggles of the late great South African vocalist Busi Mhlongo, a resolute African music star who charts a singular and unique path from rural KZN to international stardom. Development was concluded with NFVF in 2025 and the project is now production ready.