Tich Makalisa

Tich Makalisa (born Sifiso Makalisa) is a pianist, composer and music producer from South Africa.

Makalisa graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Composition & Arrangement. He is a talented performer and composer with a diverse compositional style. Internationally he has performed on stage and recorded with the likes of Judith Sephuma, Selaelo Selota, Jimmy Dludlu, Max Vidima, Ivan Mazuze, Moreira Chonguica, Andrew Young, David Morehead Band as well as in various ensembles he's led.

Makalisa has performed at international festivals including the North Sea Jazz festival in The Netherlands, London Jazz festival and toured extensively in Countries such as Brazil, Turkey, U.A.E,U.K and France. His compositional credits include various wildlife films and documentaries and adverts for brands such as: Dubai Properties, Alexander Forbes, Nature Connect, Royco, Bokomo,Isuzu and Mica Hardware. a. He has also composed original songs for various artists including "Thando" on Selaelo Selota's award winning debut album.Between 2006 & 2008 he worked as a composer for Barry Kirsch Productions in Dubai, the leading Audio Production Company in the Middle East as a composer and jingle writer.

He began classical piano lessons at the age of 7 and later studied Jazz composition and arrangement at the University of Capetown where he graduated with an honors degree in 2000.

Makalisa continues to perform in various ensembles and leads his own Electro Dance Music band "Origami Live" as well. He also writes production music for Mamadance Music Solutions a stock Library music company based in Capetown. He has 2 Production Library Albums currently with Mamadance "African Stories: Ebony &Ivory" and " African Jazz Piano".

Recently he has been Music Director for a couple of cruise ships, mainly Azamara and Saga Cruises,Spirit of Discovery.