The Most Famous
COMPOSERS from South Africa
This page contains a list of the greatest South African Composers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,451 Composers, 2 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 49th most number of Composers behind Kazakhstan, and Iceland.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South African Composers of all time. This list of famous South African Composers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Trevor Jones (b. 1949)
With an HPI of 52.23, Trevor Jones is the most famous South African Composer. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages on wikipedia.
Trevor Alfred Charles Jones (born 23 March 1949) is a South African composer of film and television scores, who has worked primarily in the United Kingdom. He is best known for his scoring work during the 1980s and 1990's, where he worked on many acclaimed films including Excalibur, Runaway Train, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Mississippi Burning, The Last of the Mohicans, and In the Name of the Father. Jones has collaborated with filmmakers like John Boorman, Andrei Konchalovsky, Jim Henson, Alan Parker, Jim Sheridan, Barbet Schroeder, and Michael Mann. Jones has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards for Best Film Music - for Mississippi Burning, The Last of the Mohicans, and Brassed Off. He has also been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards - Best Original Score and Best Original Song, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie or Special for the miniseries Merlin. Jones has been a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in Britain since 2006. In 1999, he became the first Chair of the music department of the National Film and Television School.
2. Enoch Sontonga (1873 - 1905)
With an HPI of 46.51, Enoch Sontonga is the 2nd most famous South African Composer. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Enoch Mankayi Sontonga (c. 1873 – 18 April 1905) was a South African composer, who is best known for writing the Xhosa hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (English: "God Bless Africa"), which, in abbreviated version, has been sung as the first half of the national anthem of South Africa since 1994. Previously, it had been the official anthem of the African National Congress since 1925. It was also adopted by South Africa's newly formed northern neighbour, Zimbabwe and translated into Shona, "Ishe Komborera Afrika" from 1980 until 1994.
People
Pantheon has 2 people classified as South African composers born between 1873 and 1949. Of these 2, 1 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South African composers include Trevor Jones. The most famous deceased South African composers include Enoch Sontonga.
