Born a South African and raised during the unstable interregnum years of Post-Apartheid South Africa, Guitarist Vuma Ian Levin’s music is an attempt to interrogate conceptions of identity, nation, culture, power and being both globally and in the emergent, post 1994 South African Democratic project. 

According to The Mail and Guardian, “Vuma Levin is destined to be one of South African jazz’s greatest musicians”. Beginning his studies in jazz at age 18, Vuma received lessons from the South African Jazz guitar legend, Johnny Fourie. He completed a National Diploma at the Tswane University of Technology going on to be presented with the best Guitarist Award(2008). In 2009, he was selected as the guitarist in the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band, which culminated in a performance at the Grahamstown Jazz Festival and later at the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival. 

Vuma went on to attend the prestigious Conservatorium Van Amsterdam where he graduated and was one of 10 students in the Netherlands to earn the Non-EU Talent Scholarship to finance his masters study. In 2014 he, won the 2nd prize in the National Leg of the Keep an Eye Jazz Awards. He went on to win the 3rd prize, incentive prize and prize for the most original band in the international leg of the Keep an Eye Jazz Awards, which featured bands from New York, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Vienna and Philadelphia. In 2014 he was nominated for the Dutch Eindwerk Prijs and went on to be announced as one of the 9 national finalists. In 2015, he was selected as a finalist in the Dutch Keep an Eye: The Records awards. In 2016, Vuma won the national leg of the Keep an eye Jazz awards and came 3rd in the international leg, featuring bands from Sienna, Boston, New York, Barcelona and Amsterdam. Later that year, he was selected as a finalist in the Dutch Jazz Awards and won the 2^nd place prize which allowed him to record his 2^nd album Life and Death on the Otherside of the Dream. He also graduated, cum laude, from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and was selected as a semi-finalist in the prestigious Montreux Socar Internationl Jazz Guitar Competition. Previous winners included Gilad Hekselman and Alexander Goodman. 

In 2017, Vuma returned to South Africa to take up a teaching position at the University of Witwatersrand. He was featured on CNNs African Voices and embarked on an international tour to release his 1^st and 2^nd albums. In 2018, he was selected by Prohelvetia to be Artist in Residence in the City of Basel at the Musikerwohnhuis, during which time he recorded his 3^rd album with Swiss guitar virtuoso Theo Duboule. The resulting project “In Motion” would go on to feature Ohad Talmor (protégé of Lee Konitz) and tour throughout Switzerland. In 2019, Vuma was shortlisted as one of the 50 best guitar players in the world by Dutch Guitar Player Magazine in the Category “Best World Music Guitarist”. Later that year he was commissioned to write for the world renowned Stockholm Saxophone Quartet as part of the annual Sterkfontein Compsers Symposium. In 2020, Vuma released his 4^th album Antique Spoons and was included in the Mail and Guardian’s 200 young South African’s list. In 2021, Vuma was invited to sit on the panel of judges adjudicating the National leg of the Unisa International Strings Competition, additionally he was named as the Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz. Later that year, his album Antique Spoons received the NIHSS award for best musical composition. Finally in 2023 Vuma released his 5th studio album, The Past Is Unpredictable, Only The Future is Certain.

Levin, has performed with some of the top musicians in South Africa and abroad including: Ben van Gelder(Netherlands), Benjamin Herman(Netherlands), Maarten Hogenhuis(Netherlands), Mark Schilders(Netherlands), Ohad Talmor(USA) Banz Oester(SWI), Domenic Landolf(SWI), Matthias Spillman(SWI), Marc Mean (SWI), Marcus Wyatt, Feya Faku, Herbie Tsoeli, Nduduzo Makhatini, Carlo Mombelli, Ayanda Sikade, Sisonke Xonti, Mandla Mlangeni, Kesivan Naidoo, Siya Makuzeni, Kyle Shepherd, Bokani Dyer, Peter Auret, Benjamin Jephta, Neil Gonsalves, Shane Cooper, Ndabo Zulu and many more. He has performed at a number of top venues and festivals in South Africa and Abroad including: North Sea Jazz Festival(NED), Montreux Jazz Festival(SWI), Jazz in Duketown(NED), Amersfoort Jazz Festival(NED), Grachtenfestival(NED), Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, Grahamstown Jazz Festival, More Jazz Series(Mozambique, Maputo), Budapest Palace of the Arts(HUN), The Bimhuis(NED), Lantaren Venster(NED), The Bird’s Eye(SWI), AMR(SWI), Gambrinus(SWI)  The Orbit, De Tor (Enschede, Netherlands), The Amsterdam Jazz Festival(Amsterdam, Netherlands), Jazz Showcase (Budapest, Hungary). Finally he has received lessons from and attended masterclasses by; Lage Lund, Jesse Van Ruller, Gilad Hekselman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Terryl Stafford, Reinier Baas, Ambrose Akinmusire, Gary Wittner, Helen Sung,  Martijn Van Iterson, Maarten van de Grinten and many more… He has released 4 albums as a band leader and has played on countless others as a sideman.