---
name: "Jonas Gwangwa"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jonas-gwangwa"
fi1m_id: "jonas-gwangwa"
imdb_id: "nm0350308"
tmdb_id: 72565
wikidata_id: "Q971620"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "19 October 1937"
died: "23 January 2021"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-04T20:18:54.547104+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Jonas Gwangwa

## Identity

Jonas Gwangwa

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jonas-gwangwa
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** jonas-gwangwa
- **IMDb ID:** nm0350308
- **TMDB ID:** 72565
- **Wikidata ID:** Q971620
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Gwangwa, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q971620, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0350308/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/72565

Composer. Born 19 October 1937 in Orlando East, South Africa. Died 23 January 2021.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 19 October 1937, Orlando East, South Africa
- **Died:** 23 January 2021
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscar nominations
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Gwangwa, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q971620, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0350308/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/72565

## Biography

Jonas Gwangwa was a South African jazz musician, trombonist and composer. He was born Jonas Mosa Gwangwa on 19 October 1937 in Orlando East, Soweto, and died on 23 January 2021 in Johannesburg.

He first gained prominence in the late 1950s as a member of the Jazz Epistles. After leaving South Africa in 1961, he spent three decades in exile and led the Amandla Cultural Ensemble, the cultural group of the African National Congress, from 1980 to 1990.

Gwangwa co-composed the score and theme song for the 1987 film *Cry Freedom* with George Fenton; the work received Academy Award and Grammy nominations. He also composed for films including *Soweto Green* (1995) and provided theme music for the television series *Generations*.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com, moviemusicuk.us.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Cry Freedom* (1987), Fi1m 72, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/cry-freedom.md)

## Complete filmography (2)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Soweto Green* (1995), Original Music Composer
- *Cry Freedom* (1987), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/cry-freedom.md)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1988: Best Original Song (nominated)
- 1988: Best Original Score (nominated), for *Cry Freedom*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Order of Ikhamanga in Gold 2010: Order of Ikhamanga in Gold (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jonas-gwangwa