On 19 September, the award-winning pianist and improviser Kyle Shepherd will give a public talk and performance as part of the IfPop Conversations series organised by the Interdisciplinary Forum for Popular Music of Africa Open at Stellenbosch University (SU).​

The IfPop is part of Africa Open, a new research institute for music, research and innovation in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at SU.

Shepherd, who is currently a Masters student at SU, will be in conversation with Dr Stephanie Vos of  Africa Open about about jazz practice as research, about developing an own artistic voice and the two figures that shaped Kyle's practice, Abdullah Ibrahim and Zim Ngqawana.

The talk and performance will be at the Gallery University Stellenbosch (GUS), from 18:00 to 20:00.

“The connections between music practice and research is a topic that academia takes increasingly seriously as it investigates alternative knowledge systems and how arts research might engage with non-written forms of knowledge production," says Vos, a jazz researcher and the project leader of the IfPop.

“In jazz research in particular, these conversations are important. Much of the knowledge about jazz are not found in academic sources, and musicians remain the main bearers of knowledge and history surrounding jazz practice. For this reason, studies like Kyle Shepherd's are particularly valuable."

Shepherd's performance and talk is the second event in the IfPop Conversations, a series of public talks aimed at public and academic audiences, and a platform for multiple disciplinary perspectives on popular music.

The event is free and open to the public. No booking is required.

For more information, visit Africa Open's Facebook page. 

​Photo: Kyle Shepherd during one of his concerts. (Photographer: Gregory Franz)​