Big Apple feasts on Mazwai’s music
Bongo Maffin songwriter goes solo in New York
● Local music star Thandiswa Mazwai has had a nonstop week of song and snow on the US East Coast.
She performed a curated showcase for the international globalFEST at New York’s Lincoln Center on Sunday, and on Tuesday recorded an intimate acoustic concert for the Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST series at NPR (National Public Radio) headquarters in Washington DC, to be broadcast in the near future.
The Tiny Desk concert series has gained cult status around the world, and has showcased top names such as Taylor Swift, Black Coffee and Angelique Kidjo, as well as emerging artists. NPR started the low-key series, in which artists visit the media organisation and perform acoustic sets among the cubicles of the employees, in 2008.
Following her Tiny Desk five-song set performance, Mazwai told the Sunday Times she felt uplifted by the intimate experience, which she shared with a select group of just 20 people, who braved an intense snowstorm to show up.
“It was kind of like an out-of-body experience and it felt really cosy,” she said. “The people in the office were so friendly and we felt supported in every way. We did two songs from my new album, as well as some of the fan favourites and one or two band faves.”
Asked about the snowstorm, the 47-year-old Zabalaza musician laughed.
“I was just telling somebody that the last time I saw this much snow was in September 1981 in Johannesburg. It’s been fun, but I’ve had to cover up in the cold and look after my voice.
“It was one of the first times I’ve performed inside a tiny office, so we were kind of spontaneous. We just prepared a couple of songs and then kind of allowed the space to dictate to us what sounded great. There’s also no amplification, so you don’t hear your voice back at yourself — it’s almost like singing around the fire, so it was a different experience than earlier in the week, when we performed for a much bigger audience with globalFEST at Lincoln Center.”
Preparing for Lincoln Center took three months of intense rehearsals.
“GlobalFEST in New York was an excellent way to begin the year, and the response was fantastic, with several agents interested in booking us for the summer. The whole five-piece band came with me from South Africa — and it was so good to see many South Africans come out to see us in New York. A lot of the music we play is very communal, and to have the South Africans singing along with us was amazing.”
Mazwai included a number of tracks from her highly anticipated studio album Sankofa — her first album in eight years, due for release in March.
“I do tend to take a lot of time between albums — usually about eight to 10 years, but now that I’m older, I think I’m going to try and work a lot faster,” she laughed.
“But what might seem like an eight-year period of no work — there’s actually a lot of writing, thinking and consuming what’s around me — and putting some of those things away until they’re needed.
“Sankofa is about bringing back what was left behind, and it was recorded in Johannesburg, Dakar and New York. The New York sessions were produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, a great American bass player. The Dakar sessions were produced by South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini.
“The album features sounds and rare instruments from South Africa, West Africa and the African diaspora. I feel in many ways that the album acts as a musical canon where South Africa begins and then Dakar begins, and then New York begins; in some way, we are all singing the same song.”
Born in Mqanduli in the Eastern Cape, Mazwai did extensive research at the International Library of African Music at Rhodes University, to create diverse and eclectic sounds on her album. “I really wanted to bring in certain voices to the work, to have an ancient voice like the use of umrhubhe and traditional Xhosa instruments, many of which are not being used as much anymore.”
She is taking advantage of her time in the US to get away on holiday. “If all goes well, I might end up on the beach for about four days before I go back home,” Mazwai said.
It was kind of like an out-of-body experience and it felt really cosy ...We did two songs from my new album, as well as some of the fan favourites and one or two band faves Thandiswa Mazwai