Born in 1974 in Soweto, South Africa, Neo Muyanga discovered music through traditional choirs, before taking a classical course in music theory. He went to study madrigal in Trieste, Italy, and then developed both practical and theoretical activities. In the mid-1990s, he co-founded with Malawian musician Masauko Chipembere the acoustic jazz duo Blk Sonshine, which enjoyed both public and critical acclaim. He then invested in various collective projects such as Chimurenga magazine and the launch of the Pan African Space Station. A theorist, librettist, musician and composer, he has written several operas and numerous pieces for choirs and orchestras.

In all the genres he crosses or reproduces, Neo Muyanga focuses on the subject of revolt and resistance to all forms of domination. In this way he regularly highlights the role of protest music and songs in the fight against apartheid in South Africa, and more generally in the liberation of peoples. He created the original soundtrack of Göran Olsson’s documentary Concerning Violence (2014), inspired by texts by the psychiatrist Frantz Fanon, opera Heart of Redness (2015), an adaptation of the novel by Zakes Mda (translated into French under the title Au pays de l’ocre rouge), which recounts the divisions within a village in British Kaffraria in South Africa in the 19th century. 

Returning to a certain form of activism, Neo Muyanga is involved in numerous conferences, concerts, performances and installations. To date, he has collaborated with renowned South African artist William Kentridge, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Handspring Puppet Company, which was discovered in France in 2012/2013 as part of the France-South Africa season with the show Ouroboros, for which Neo Muyanga directed the music. Invited to the Sharjah 2019 Biennial in the United Arab Emirates, he presented work inspired by Miriam Makeba (1932-2008). He recently received an invitation to the Liverpool 2020 Biennial in the UK.