Gospel star serenades with her latest album
DURBAN singer Thobekile Mkhwanazi is back with another gospel album celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Talking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday during her promotional tour, Mkhwanazi said the new album, Wonderful Day was about remembering the “finished work” of Jesus Christ.
“I am telling everyone that Jesus did not just die for a selected few but he did it for everyone,” she said.
Her music sound is the vibey gospel music that is often sung in tent services. She said her sixth album was not different from her previous work.
“The only new thing we introduced is the bass but everything else is the same,” she said.
The album was released late month.
Mkhwanazi was first discovered by Hlengiwe Mhlaba when singing at Nkosinathi Sithole’s tent service.
Mhlaba invited Mkhwanazi to feature on her live DVD in 2007 recorded at the Durban Play House.
She was later offered a record deal by Sipho Makhabane’s Big Fish Music label. Her debut album Uthembekile was released in 2010.
“I never expected my music to sell but when my first album went platinum, I knew that my voice was God’s favour,” she said.
Unlike other gospel stars, Mkhwanazi did not start singing at an early age or in a church choir.
“When I was growing up people would discourage me from singing because they said I can’t sing. It was after accepting Christ that I found myself singing. Even then, I did not think that I could sing. It wasn’t until Hlengiwe asked me to feature on her DVD that I started believing in myself,” Mkhwanazi said.
She has no desire to change her gospel “tent” sound. “There were musicians who used to undermine the sort of music that I make but now some of them are using the same
last sound,” she said.
Mkhwanazi said she was humbled to hear that her music was doing wonderful things in peoples’ lives.
“It overwhelms me at times. This is indeed a miracle. I never thought that I would make music that gives people hope and restores them,” she said, adding that she would perform shows in East London and Port Elizabeth in August this year. —