Joao Cabral

Joao Cabral is a guitarist, composer, songwriter, arranger and producer from Mozambique.

He has been a passionate musical innovator committed to the exploration of many different art forms on the African landscape.

He started playing the guitar in church at the age of 17. At first he was drawn to rock music and spent his youth listening to and imitating songs by groups and musicians like Dire Straits, Europe, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Iron Maiden, Carlos Santana, Guns n’ Roses, AC/DC, Bon Jovi and Queen.

In 1997, he began playing live in jam sessions and afterwards in small combos with several musicians. In 2003, Cabral decided to pursue music studies and moved to Cape Town where he enrolled in the Jazz Studies Department of the University of Cape Town’s South African College of Music. He studied Jazz Performance for three years and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Music (Jazz Performance) in 2007.

Cabral has performed at various concerts and festivals in South Africa, Ghana, Namibia, Swaziland, Mozambique, Tanzania, Brazil, the US, Malaysia, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Lithuania. He has been a guest musician with the International Orchestra of Glomus – a project with musicians from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Georgia, Brazil, Italy, the US, Mali, Ghana and Tanzania.

Cabral has numerous original compositions within the Afro-jazz musical tradition, combining both traditional and modern elements of jazz. Although he is drawn to the sounds of West, Central and Southern Africa, jazz remains his first love.

He has performed with bands like Kina Zoré, Luna Latin Jazz, Kalifa and Koliba.