Tutu Puoane is one of the exciting voices on the international jazz scene today.
Born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1979, she studied at the Music College of the University of Cape Town (UCT) before moving to Europe in 2002.
She spent two years at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Netherlands) and eventually moved to Antwerp, Belgium in 2004.
Tutu’s music is a mix of African, European, American traditions.
Her repertoire consists of own compositions, songs from the Great American Songbook and arrangements of South African originals.
Two of her albums, ‘Quiet Now’ and ‘Mama Africa’ (a collaboration with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra) were awarded a South African Music Award (SAMA) for Best Jazz Album (in 2010 and 2011). ‘Breathe’ was the first release of SoulFactory Records, the independent record label she founded together with her husband, music & business partner Ewout Pierreux.
Besides music, Tutu has also been more and more involved with theatre. In 2015 she worked and toured the world with Wim Vandekeybus and his dance theatre production Speak Low If You Speak Love. Since 2019 she’s one of the actresses in an all-star cast of Dear Winnie, the very successful and award-winning co-production of KVS (Brussels) and NNT (Groningen, NL).