The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘SPIRITUAL CLEANSING’
NEW HAVEN’S THABISA DIGS DEEP WITH LATEST SINGLE
Haunting and hypnotic are two words that can be used to describe New Haven musician Thabisa Rich’s latest single, “Sweet Sorrow.” The song she released at the end of last year echoes with pain as Thabisa puts the stress many felt in 2020 into her song.
“Even in strange times, I’ll find my strength,” Thabisa’s lyrics say. “Even when I’m down, I’ll stand tall. Do you ever feel you don’t belong? Sometimes I wish I wasn’t born.”
Thabisa is an activist as well as an artist and she said after the death of George Floyd she found herself just trying to “survive the emotional turmoil” of that, the pandemic and the rest of 2020.
She said since summer she’s been “trying to get back to myself and my family and focus on my music.”
The South African musician, who drops her surname when performing, said she wrote her single in 24 hours in her attic studio.
“This song is just one of those songs that just came to me without me having to seek it. Sometimes inspiration comes in different ways, through other artists or through hearing a beat or a sound, and it lives in your head.
“This one landed for me in such a beautiful way, effortlessly, where I found myself writing this song within 24 hours, literally,” she laughed. “I was writing the lyrics and layering all of those narratives with my voice in such a short space of time. I literally couldn’t sleep, I just had to finish it.”
For Thabisa, the song brings great happiness, but she admits it comes from a place of pain.
“For me, it sounds like gospel. It’s trying to reincarnate my spiritual space,” she said. “It’s coming from a place of pain for me, where it really connected me to [be] introspective about where I’ve been and the hardships I had to go through, but it also brings me such joy and happiness to realize where I will be because of what I’m doing now.”
Thabisa layered elements from
the classic spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” into her single. She said her Christian background not only shaped her faith but her music so she felt that adding it to her song “felt like home.”
She explained that “Sweet Sorrow” feels like a “spiritual cleansing” that washes away her pain and gives her a sense of rebirth.
Thabisa, who has incorporated different languages into her earlier music, also includes a Sanskrit chant in “Sweet Sorrow,” which she said acts as a mantra within the song to remind her and the listener that it is good to forgive and to heal.
“You need to forgive yourself for the things you cannot change. For me this song really is like gospel and a chant for me, something I have to say over and over again until I reach a peace of mind,” she said.
“I really dug deep into my space, where I felt reconnected with where I’ve been and places I didn’t really want to visit and see them again and feel the pain again and embrace it and accept it.
“And then also realize I will be fine. I just need to forgive myself or forgive where I’ve been and know that I cannot change everything that has happened, but I can change what will happen to me now and in the future.”
As for her next album, Thabisa said she has written some songs, “but they haven’t moved me the way ‘Sweet Sorrow’ has moved me,” and she wants “Sweet Sorrow” to set the bar for the songs she will include in the next album.
“I think it set this precedent for me, that it is such a great quality and energy that I’m going to have to go to this level or higher and nothing less,” she added.
“What that means for me is that the song is so personal for me that I have to dig a little bit deeper and share a bit of myself with the people — a Thabisa with more maturity.”
Thabisa described her first two albums, “Eyodidi” and “The Journey,” as a “stepping stone” that she used to introduce herself to listeners.
“Now I’m going to step on that base and really elevate myself in terms of my music,” she said. “It’s going to dig deep and look into social issues we deal with. Not necessarily a political album, it’s going to be a personal introduction to who I am right now.”
While she doesn’t have a release date in mind, she’s hoping for a spring release once she finishes writing the songs and securing the funds to produce the album in a studio.
When asked how she defines her music, Thabisa said she sees it as a blending of her South African and American cultures, and she hopes it can inspire others to achieve their goals.
“I’m going to be truly myself in my African-ness and my American-ness. The two worlds merge through my music. It’s a blend of two cultures and becomes something of itself.
“I cannot box my music into one thing and say I sing Afro pop or sing Afro soul, but I’m going to let my music speak for itself and become a new genre on its own.”
For more information about Thabisa and her music, visit thabisamusic.com. Her music is available to stream through iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Pandora and Deezer.