Brent January

BIOGRAPHY

Brent January is a classical guitarist from South Africa, currently finishing postgraduate studies at Stellenbosch University. Here he studies guitar under the tutelage of Nina-Fourie Gouws. In 2020, he was selected to take part in the Guitar Foundation of America Mentorship Program, where he had the opportunity to study online with Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux. Also, as part of this program he had the opportunity to perform and record a piece that was commissioned for him by the Guitar Foundation of America. Over the past seven years, Brent has played in various ensembles, including the Stellenbosch University Guitar Quartet, Stellenbosch University Big Band. As an electric guitarist with the New Voice Sextet, he released the album “In Tune with The Infinite” in 2020. Between 2018-2020 he has performed with these ensembles at the prestigious US Woordfees Arts Festival.
After he graduated from BMus, he taught guitar part-time at The Frank Pietersen Music Centre in Paarl, Western Cape. During this time, he has been an active ensemble performer – performing with the Stellenbosch Guitar Quartet at the Classics for All Festival in Greyton, Woordfees Music Festival in Stellenbosch as well as in various concerts throughout Cape Town. Brent, who is now twenty-four, has been playing guitar for about nine years, but classical guitar only for the past seven. He takes part in as many competitions and masterclasses as he can, to improve his musicianship. An example of this was in 2022, where he received a scholarship from his university to take part in The Volterra Project, Summer Guitar Institute. This summer guitar school in Italy is run by the prestigious guitarist Antigoni Goni and was a life changing experience for him. Lastly, in 2022, Brent was the proud recipient of the Turning The Tide Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Masters Scholarship In The Graduate School Of Arts And Social Sciences (Stellenbosch).

RESEARCH

Brent is currently in the final year of his master’s degree under the supervision of Prof. Stephanus Muller at Africa Open – Institute for Music, Research, and Innovation. His master’s research focuses on Maskanda music. This research is essentially a comparative study between a notated work: The Maskanda by Darius Brubeck and traditional Zulu Maskanda music. Maskanda as a vehicle for decoloniality is also explored.