Kesivan Naidoo

Kesivan Naidoo (born 25 June 1979) is a South African jazz drummer, composer, bandleader and musical director based in Basel, Switzerland.

Naidoo is the founder and leader of Kesivan and the Lights, his principal ensemble and the main vehicle for his original compositions, arrangements of jazz standards and jazz interpretations of popular music. The band has released three albums: Instigators of the Revolution (2010), Brotherhood (2014) and We Dance at Home (2026).

He also leads two distinct large-ensemble projects. The Kesivan Big Band Experience presents big-band orchestrations of his original compositions, while the Kesivan amaBigBand Experience arranges amapiano and contemporary popular music for a large jazz ensemble. In 2023, Naidoo led an amapiano big band for the Hunter's Refresh Experience featuring Boohle and Ch'cco. Contemporary coverage described the project as an industry first for the amapiano genre.

Naidoo received the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz in 2009 and has been described as the only drummer to have received the award.

In 2014, Naidoo led Kesivan and the Lights in the band's New York debut at Carnegie Hall as part of the UBUNTU: Music and Arts of South Africa festival.

He has performed or recorded with musicians including Miriam Makeba, Bheki Mseleku, Zim Ngqawana, Winston Mankunku Ngozi, Feya Faku, Abdullah Ibrahim, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Maria Schneider, John Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, Joe Lovano and William Parker.

Early life

Naidoo was born in East London, in South Africa's Eastern Cape. He was raised by his mother, Vinodarie Naidoo.

He became interested in drumming as a child and began playing drums at approximately the age of eleven. In 1993, aged fourteen, he made his professional stage debut at the Hogsback Arts Festival with a group led by musician and educator Alan Webster.

During his teenage years, Naidoo performed with the Hudson Park Jazz Band and Hudson Concert Band and took lessons with South African jazz drummer Lulu Gontsana. He was also selected for South African national youth jazz ensembles.

In 1996, Naidoo began performing with pianist Hotep Idris Galeta. Galeta became an important early mentor, encouraged Naidoo to study at the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, and helped introduce him to Cape Town's professional jazz community.

At the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Naidoo studied under and was mentored by Pérez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano and Terri Lyne Carrington.

Naidoo also received instruction from American jazz drummer Brian Blade during his time at the Global Jazz Institute. Berklee has listed Blade among the renowned artists who served as artists-in-residence with the institute.

His postgraduate studies were supported in part by an Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Scholarship.

Naidoo completed the Master of Music degree cum laude in 2016. His culminating project, Eclipse: Of Myth, Music and Finding the Way Back Home, combined original composition and improvisation with the concept of a graphic novel.

Naidoo also worked and performed with American composer, arranger and bandleader Maria Schneider.

Naidoo subsequently performed with Mseleku and developed a close musical and personal relationship with him. Their early rehearsals included an intensive series of all-night sessions centred on music, improvisation, philosophy and spirituality.

Mseleku deepened Naidoo's engagement with the music of John Coltrane and influenced his understanding of African rhythmic language, South African musical identity, dance, spirituality and modern jazz improvisation.

The Carnegie Hall performance served as the international launch of Brotherhood and received a standing ovation.

The score received the 2011 South African Film and Television Award for Best Music Composition in a Feature Film.

Beat Bag Bohemia and documentary work

Naidoo was a member of Swiss drummer Lucas Niggli's percussion ensemble Beat Bag Bohemia, alongside Niggli, Rolando Lamussene and Peter Conradin Zumthor. The quartet's self-titled album was released by Intakt Records in 2008.

The quartet's tours through Africa and Europe were documented in Martin Fuchs's film The Fellowship of the Drums, released on DVD by Intakt Records in 2011.

Skyjack and other collaborations

Naidoo became a member of the multinational jazz ensemble Skyjack, alongside South African musicians Kyle Shepherd and Shane Cooper and Swiss musicians Marc Stucki and Andreas Tschopp.

The group developed after its members performed together in South Africa in 2013. Its self-titled debut album was recorded in Switzerland and released in 2016. A second album, The Hunter, followed in 2019.

Naidoo's international recording and performance work has also included collaborations with Maria Schneider, Carlo Mombelli, Mike del Ferro, Karl-Martin Almqvist, Martin Sjöstedt, Lucas Niggli and William Parker.

The project brought together musicians from South Africa, Switzerland and Germany. Its repertoire included orchestrations of compositions from Instigators of the Revolution, Brotherhood and Naidoo's other projects.

The ensemble toured South Africa in 2023, performing at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda, in Cape Town and at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.

Rather than reproducing amapiano through its usual electronic production, Naidoo arranged the music for acoustic and electric rhythm sections, brass, woodwinds, percussion and vocalists. The arrangements translated the genre's electronic textures, grooves and log-drum patterns into parts for a large jazz ensemble.

Naidoo subsequently developed the concept into the Kesivan amaBigBand Experience, distinct from the Kesivan Big Band Experience, which is devoted to orchestrations of his original jazz compositions.

In March 2026, the Kesivan amaBigBand Experience appeared on the main-stage programme at the inaugural Montreux Jazz Festival Franschhoek. The 26-piece ensemble featured Boohle, Moonchild Sanelly and BONJ and presented large-scale arrangements of amapiano and contemporary South African popular music.

Kesivan and the Lights also appeared separately at the festival with a different repertoire and smaller ensemble.

Musical style and influences

Naidoo's work is grounded in jazz and South African improvised music while incorporating influences from Indian classical music, funk, soul, electronic music and contemporary African popular music.

His compositions and arrangements have drawn on the music and mentorship of South African musicians including Hotep Galeta, Bheki Mseleku, Winston Mankunku Ngozi, Miriam Makeba, Feya Faku and Zim Ngqawana.

Zildjian produced a custom 24-inch prototype ride cymbal for Naidoo based on his own design specifications. The cymbal was made specifically for him and bears his name and the individual inscription "BE Kesivan 001".

In March 2025, Naidoo became an endorsed artist with Vic Firth, entering into an artist endorsement agreement with the drumstick manufacturer.

Awards and honours

1999 – SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition; reported as the youngest person to win the competition 2002 – University of Cape Town Honours Council Scholarship 2009 – Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz 2011 – South African Film and Television Award for Best Music Composition in a Feature Film, for Visa/Vie Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Scholarship for postgraduate study at Berklee College of Music 2016 – Master of Music, cum laude, Berklee College of Music

Selected discography

As leader: Kesivan and the Lights

Instigators of the Revolution (2010) Brotherhood (2014) We Dance at Home (2026)

With collaborative groups

Tribe – Our Language (2003) Tribe – A Moment in Cape Town (2002) Babu – Uproots (2008) Lucas Niggli Drum Quartet – Beat Bag Bohemia (2008) Closet Snare – Live at the Independent Armchair Theatre (2010) Skyjack – Skyjack (2016) Skyjack – The Hunter (2019)

Selected appearances

Jimmy Dludlu – Afrocentric (2002) Tony Cox and Steve Newman with guests – World in a Guitar: Live at the Market Theatre (2002) Feya Faku – Tacet (2003) Zim Ngqawana – Vadzimu (2003) Miriam Makeba – Reflections (2004) Bokani Dyer – Mirrors (2010) Herbie Tsoaeli – African Time (2012) Karl-Martin Almqvist and Martin Sjöstedt – Good to Be (2012) The Mike Rossi Project – Trespassing Permitted (2012) Shane Cooper – Oscillations (2013) Feya Faku and the Spirit Jazz Orchestra – Live at the SABC (2014) Mike del Ferro – The Johannesburg Sessions (2015) Carlo Mombelli – I Press My Spine to the Ground (2016) William Parker – Flower in a Stained-Glass Window & the Blinking of the Ear (2018)

Filmography

Visa/Vie – composer The Fellowship of the Drums – documentary subject and performer