Musos back on solid ground
A reimagined The Soil is back with a new member – and an album in the pipeline
The 20-year-old a cappella collective The Soil are definitely a feeling. Let me explain with an example that could get me into trouble in my community. I had a neighbour whose wife was called Susan. I loved their love — how gentle and soft they were with each other.
I remember when The Soil released Susan in 2014, he would play the song loudly on his car stereo because he had been locked out of the house for arriving in a rather “friendly” mood in the wee hours of the morning.
But he would not only play the song throughout the night to apologise, he would play it again in the morning as she was hanging up washing, to celebrate her and remind her of his love.
This is the magic of The Soil — their music captures the nuances of relationships and the essence of love.
The group was formed in 2003 when the members met during jam sessions at Tikelo Secondary School in Soweto and it has evolved over the past two decades. It has been seven years since they released Echoes of Kofifi, after which the members pursued individual projects.
But they’re back with shows and an album they have described as The Soil reimagined scheduled for next year. The reformed edition of The Soil consists of Ntsika Ngxanga, his brother Phindo Ngxanga and new addition Theo Matshoba.
“We took a seven-year hiatus and that led us into different things, individually. My solo career introduced me to a whole new world I never even knew existed and Phindo also did his own stuff,” says Ntsika, who sings alto in the group.
He says when they decided to reunite, they wanted to bring in songs from their different journeys.
“That’s when the process of the new album started,” he says. “Phindo would come up with a song, and would tell the group what it means to him, and we would lay out the structure as well as the harmonies.
“I would also come into the studios
and say, ‘Here is Thandwa Ndim,a song I dedicate to my wife, here is my verse,’ and that is how we worked.”
The Soil’s most recent personnel change was the departure of Buhlebendalo Mda.
“When Buhle left, it was heartbreaking. We respected her decision to leave and focus fully on her career and it was refreshing to see how people wished Buhle well as she embarked on her solo career,” Ntsika says.
The brothers mention the anxiety that came with that change while we’re chatting in the Mail & Guardian’s newsroom.
However, they brought in Matshoba, who fitted so perfectly with their creative process it was as if she had been there the whole time.
But she is not entirely new to the group. In 2016, when Mda took a sabbatical from The Soil, Matshoba temporarily took her role. However, it was not a matter of filling space for the sake of convenience, as
Matshoba is an accomplished artist in her own right.
Before she joins us for the interview, the brothers, with big smiles on their faces, explain Matshoba’s contribution to the group dynamic.
“We always knew Theo could sing but we quickly found out that she is an amazing writer,” Ntsika says. “It wouldn’t make sense for us to keep Buhle’s parts, knowing that she won’t be there to perform the music.
“So, the few songs that she had recorded, Theo then had to come in and fill those pockets and come up with verses of her own.”
He continues: “We sent her three songs and within a day she had written verses to all three songs. There is one called Inkanyezi, where she freestyled the verse, but I feel like it came pouring out of her.
“When people listen to that song, they often ask her what was going on when she was writing it and she says, ‘I did not write it, it wrote itself.’”
Phindo says over the past four years, every time they entered the studio to craft their album, and excitedly told people the music was coming, it would be stagnant — nothing would move until Matshoba arrived.
“It was meant to be; it had to happen like that,” says Phindo.
A radiant Matshoba walks in while we are speaking about her and I can immediately feel the energy that brings The Soil together. “I feel like they are my older brothers — that is how they treat me,” she says.
The Soil Reimagined
Ntsika says that with their upcoming album, it is not just the music that they are reimagining.
“There was a time when Something Soweto was also part of the group and we were performing in Makhanda. He sang notes on stage we had not rehearsed. There was a telepathic way of singing that we did, and we would literally just turn and look at each other in shock and pure joy.
“Fast forward to 2023 and Theo joins the group — I had long forgotten about that feeling, that it even existed in me, and she revived it.
“That is the reimagination I am talking about, at its core, that is how The Soil’s music has always made me feel,” he says.
For Phindo, reimagining The Soil means bringing healing to people the same way they did when the group was founded.
“I remember our first paid gig, where they paid us R500. People were crying and we did not understand why — little did we know that healing was taking place.” he says.
Matshoba also sees being part of The Soil in spiritual terms.
“I wake up every morning and tell my partner that I am blessed, without giving him an explanation. Never in a million years did I think I would be a part of The Soil,” she says.
The Soil is at the Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg on 3 November as part of the Bassline Live series.