#42: Eldene Bruiners

This week we are joined by trumpeter and composer, Eldene Bruiners, who tells us more about South African jazz, Fauvism, the autobiography of Miles Davis, and more.

Eldene Bruiners is a trumpeter and composer born and raised in East London, Eastern Cape. He has been playing the trumpet since the age of 14, and his sound is inspired by the likes of Miles Davis, Roy Hargrove, Feya Faku and Sakhile Simani. He relocated to Durban in 2019 to study the music he loves. He is a jazz performance graduate from the University of KWAZULU-NATAL and was under the mentorship of Salim Washington, Neil Gonsalves and is now under the wing of multi award winning jazz pianist, Nduduzo Makhathini. He is a two-time national schools band recipient who now studies his honours degree at the same university.

We welcome him to The FRM Newsletter to share what he’s been into recently.

🧣👞 Fashion

When it comes to personal fashion I really take inspiration from all sorts of things, such 80s/Early 90s aesthetic, but I also have tons of creative friends who dress really well and it inspires me to try harder. I just try my best to match my personality. When I’m on stage, I try to look hip maybe put on a tie or try to look like Miles Davis.

🎺🎹 Music

My music taste is very much rooted in South African jazz, the bebop and hard bop eras and classic RnB – these are the styles I grew up listening to. But as someone born after 2000 I really love rap, I feel this genre is a crucial representation of the modern world and how music can evolve but also still be liberating. Gun to my head and I had to pick 5 artists I really love: Miles Davis, Abdullah Ibrahim, Roy Hargrove, Slum village and Kanye West.

🎥 Films

I’ve really been into Ari Aster films lately, he’s creativity is out of this world, I appreciate artists who are equally astounding as they are authentic. A Kanye only comes around once or twice in a generation.

🥗 Food

My taste in food won’t be attractive to many, I’ve been on a vegan plant based diet for about 8 months so all I eat are carbs and legumes but the urge for high meat content fast food is definitely still present.

🎨 Art

When it comes to art I’d narrow my 3 favourite movements down to Fauvism, Expressionism and Surrealism. I feel art is a significant representation of how one can be thankful for the gift of knowledge and expression. I love South African artists as well, such as Mbongeni Buthelezi, Thokozani Mthiyane, Cecil Skotness and the list goes on.

📚 Books

Reading is truly a necessity especially in research which is what I’m doing a lot of right now. Autobiography and non fiction are my favourite book genres , with ‘Beneath The Underdog’ by Charles Mingus and Miles, the autobiography of Miles Davis by Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe being 2 of my favourites. They teach lessons of music, oppression, beauty of blackness and liberation. When it comes to poetry I’m in my Rudy Francisco phase , his book ‘Helium’ is a fine collection of poetry. The holy bible and the Bhagavad Gita are religious scriptures that I am dissecting for literature as well as a endemic purpose.