Sound System Geographies: South African Jazz in Amsterdam

Lynnée Denise received a grant for the development of Sound System Geographies: South African Jazz in Amsterdam: a compelling story told through sound, image, and text, exploring how Amsterdam became a creative refuge for two legendary musical exiles—Nina Simone and Busi Mhlongo. The project highlights the city’s rich jazz history, cultural diversity, and the progressive conditions that made life and art possible for artists in exile.

Lynnée is an Amsterdam-based interdisciplinary artist, writer, and DJ. A global practitioner of sound, language, and cultural memory, her work bridges music, scholarship, and storytelling. Influenced by her parents’ record collection and the sonic textures of the 1980s, she explores music migration, diasporic archives, and the evolution of jazz and electronic music across the African Diaspora. In 2013, she coined the term DJ Scholarship to examine how knowledge is produced through sound, shifting the role of the DJ to archivist and cultural worker. Her work takes shape through essays, lectures, films, and curated performances. Her presentations in Amsterdam include International Theater Amsterdam, Foam Museum, Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), and Le Guess Who. Her debut book, Why Willie Mae Matters, was published in 2023.