Mazwai’s on-stage fellowship mesmerises

There is something I do not quite enjoy about watching Thandiswa Mazwai perform live. And the problem here is entirely me. I am the problem.

The audience tends to take the lead before, during and after her performances. It becomes a spiritual fellowship session that works well for Thandiswa, who admits to being extremely nervous every time she has to come on to a stage.

It then becomes magic. Exciting. And I am sure it must be electric for those who want to ukungqisha (do traditional dancing) and ascend into a trance. So it was quite strange to find myself enthralled, utterly mesmerised by the soothing sound of Sabela, the first song on her new Sankofa album. Having gone through Lahl’umlenze, Ibhokwe, Stimela, Too Late for Mama and renditions of late music icons, it all mellowed down when she sampled one or two songs from this latest album. Kunzima, Fela Kona and Biko Speaks reunited highly-charged audience members raising them from their seats, with arms outstretched and tears streaming down a few faces.

And that’s the thing about this new album, Sankofa – it elegantly assembles modern jazz polyrhythms, chants, Xhosa and enthralling melodies while making use of traditional instruments like amahubo, kora and umrhube.

This seemingly new jazz sensibility in Thandiswa’s music was actually first enunciated in her Ibhokwe album, 12 years ago.

“Ibhokwe was a spiritual album for me. It gave me room to experiment with different sounds.

“Sankofa is a continuation of that and has an African jazz nuance. I am comfortably in my late forties now and I suddenly find I am enjoying jazz!” quipped Thandiswa after her performance on Saturday.

Moving head beams provided dramatic effects as visuals of Steve Biko, Winnie Mandela, Hugh Masekela and Brenda Fassie were projected behind this Mqanduli-born artist in her red Black Coffee dress that stood out, silhouetted by a grey-to-black stage background.

“I am intentional about paying tribute to my elders. I have had the privilege of meeting my heroes. I was 20 years old when I met Miriam Makeba.

I was 14 years old when I met Bra Hugh Masekela.

“I am where I am today because those older musicians gave me their time, treated me like a peer, and told me that I have the potential to become the voice of the next generation,” reminisced Thandiswa, whose career began 30 years ago.

Over the years I have struggled to put a finger on what genre Thandiswa falls under. It has moved from kwaito, African pop, umbhaqanga, jazz and ukombela okuxutywe nomngqungqo (a traditional Xhosa form of song and dance). Through it all, it has always been her voice that has stood the test of time.

“Thandiswa’s voice and its rawness really fits well into the matrix of acoustic music.

“The idea of using jazz in this album is to allow for improvisation and for Thandiswa’s voice to stand out,” said one of Sankofa’s producers, Nduduzo Makhathini, who is also featured on a song called “Kulungile”.

“This was just another chapter in our friendship that we honoured in a graceful way during the production of this album. We had recording sessions in Dakar in Senegal and sessions in Johannesburg. The experience of working with Thandiswa was great and we are really happy with the product that we were able to produce.”

The Sankofa Tour coming to Cape Town was ignited by a Tweet which saw Thandiswa partner with Castle Milk Stout.

“One day, Thandiswa jokingly tweeted something along the lines of ‘hey guys the costs of staging events is quite expensive! May I please get a sponsor!’ We saw that tweet and said ‘no man, Thandiswa is family to us, let us reach out’. We once worked with her in 2018 during our Clan Beats campaign which saw us posting clan names on our (beer) packaging. We seek to inspire Africans to rediscover their African traditions and values in a modern world,” said Mdantsane-born Kwezi Vika, who manages marketing for Castle Milk Stout.

Thandiswa added that she would like to frequent and perform more often in Cape Town, even stage a three-day concert that includes meditation retreats, the main concert and a massive afterparty.

“Since people are not buying CDs, we no longer make money from that kind of stuff any more. So if you love your artist, if you have a favourite artist, the thing you have to do for them is to go to their shows.

“The music is now free. You go on Spotify, you go on iTunes, you pay R59 a month to listen to every artist in the world and you don’t have to buy my CD for R120. So the best thing you can do is come to my show, that is the best way I can recoup some of my expenses,” she said. 

Thandiswa landed in Cape Town a day before her concert. She had been in New York where she had had the privilege of performing at the Carnegie Hall Citywide concert at Bryant Park. 

In April this year, a few weeks before the release of Sankofa, she did a 20-minute Tiny Desk music session in Washington DC hosted by NPR Music.  

Back here at home, following her Artscape performance this past Saturday, she is next scheduled to appear on the star-studded Divas in Concert event on the 10th of August in Johannesburg. The Delicious Festival on the 21st of September and the Joy of Jazz festival on the 28th of September this year are also lined up.

Cape Times