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Tellaman is at home in Johannesburg when we speak, patches of flu hanging over him from a weekend he spent largely in bed. Nasty C is recovering from the opposite kind of weekend. Shows in Johannesburg and Botswana, the usual machinery of being one of South Africa’s most in-demand performers. They’re in separate places, separate…
Nduduzo Makhathini has been back in Durban for only a day when we speak. Two months on the road — Princeton, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle, Berkeley, London, Antwerp and points between — and now home, which he says with the particular relief of someone who means it. “Man,” he says, settling into the word. “It really…
The lights go down at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg and three silhouettes appear in separate pools of light. One behind a drum kit, one behind a keyboard and one standing centre stage, directly in front of a microphone. The audience, drenched in darkness, falls silent. Then Bongeziwe Mabandla’s distinctive voice cuts through that silence and…
There is a line in one of Vusi Mahlasela’s most beloved songs, When You Come Back, about climbing mountains and reaching for the top of Africa’s days, that’s a mixture of poetry and prophecy. Because that is exactly what he has spent his life doing. From Mamelodi township, where he taught himself to play guitar…
Billy Monama says The Rebirth of Ubuntu is about memory. The concert he founded and curates is now preparing for its fifth edition at the Joburg Theatre on May 29 and 30. Over two nights, a line-up that includes Lira, Zoë Modiga and Vusi Nova will perform alongside a 20-piece orchestra in a production that…
It’s on songs like I’m On Fire, an uptempo dance tune in which Angélique Kidjo evokes the spirit of Fela Kuti with the help of Nigerian highlife duo The Cavemen, that you appreciate the breadth and depth of Kidjo’s musical palette. The song comes roughly halfway through HOPE!!, a 16-track album that sees the Beninese…
The rediscovery of territory, the breaching of the voice, the strain on the body, the musical gaze of the subject, the subject becoming musical space, the state of mere suspension; this is the orbit Gabi Motuba dwells in — a world of eternal singing and swinging. Gabi’s sound refuses to sit on the surface of…
In her closing keynote on courage and collectivism at the recent Australian Progress Conference, Sisonke Msimang said: “Love — watered by rage — is a powerful impulse.” I read these words on her sub- stack more than two weeks after seeing Zawadi Yamungu at the Market Theatre. Finally, I think to myself, here is a…
A sea of people moved in perfect unison, locked into the rhythmic glide of the popular “Electric-slide”. The dance is known affectionately across South Africa as the “Step”, “Codesa” or “Bus”. The vibrant crowd are dancing to Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse’s timeless anthem, Burn Out. Even in 2026, this early 80s crossover hit remains a force…
It’s a warm Saturday afternoon in Cape Town. Music lovers are beginning to trickle into the CTICC hosting the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF). I’m in the media centre, excited for my next interview of the day. In walks Fatoumata Diawara, the artist I have been looking forward to speaking to. She immediately greets…