Gideon "Mgibe" Nxumalo [nkǁɔˈmalɔ] (15 June 1929 in Kimberley, Cape Province – 24 December 1970) was a South African jazz pianist and marimba player, acclaimed also as a composer and arranger.
[3] Under the name "Mgibe", as he was known by admirers, Nxumalo was, from the early 1950s, host to a radio programme This is Bantu Jazz for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
[4] Rising up the ranks to become an announcer on This is Bantu Jazz, Nxumalo popularised local indigenous music on the radio, most notably Mbaqanga.
Producing two jazz records, Nxumalo's compositions brought together diverse musical styles including swing, Big Band and elements of indigenous African song and rhythm.
He arranged African songs for the musical Sponono (script by Alan Paton and Krishna Shah), produced at the Cort Theatre on Broadway in 1964.
[5] A jazz score composed by Gideon Nxumalo with Max Roach featured in the film Dilemma which was shot secretly by Henning Carlsen in 1962 in South Africa under apartheid.