SOUL PURPOSE
Rising singer’s debut ‘Dopamine’ has great chemistry, writes Shanthini Naidoo
BONGI Mvuyana is standing at the edge of a precipice. On the fringe of fame, about to take a leap of faith, at the brink of acclaim. But last week, she stood alone in a sound booth.
Cans on her ears shutting out the world, jamming to the Afro-funk beat of the title track of her album, Dopamine, she was having the time of her life.
If her two singles, I Wonder and Gold, are anything to go by, it will all take off for the lithe and lanky 26-year-old from Maritzburg when her album is released in April.
The early-release tracks had critics touting her as the artist to watch this year, and she was featured on the US R&B music site Singersroom.
The soulful but upbeat love songs were also given great airplay on local radio stations and in Lagos, where a fan base is forming.
“I have not thought about fame. I just want to get this album out, it has been a year in the making already. Oh my gosh! My album’s finally coming out?” Saucer-eyes grow as she flings her slinky arms in the air, registering the fact.
Last week her sultry music video aired on Channel O and Vuzu. Think swimming pool, floaty white dress, attractive partner and a strangely placed teddy bear. Rapper AKA plays her lover.
Their connection is a shared record label, Vth Season, which manages a small group of artists who have all fared well.
A little over a year ago, Mvuyana was with a garage band, Stereo Night School, a sideline to her marketing job. She sent a shout out on BBM about an inner-city gig one Saturday. Raphael Benza, head of Vth Season, went along and signed her up.
More than 100 studio hours later, we are at the Randburg recording facility Figure 8, where the last of 11 tracks is nearly ready to go. She calls it an overture for the album. The track is mostly instrumental, Afrofunk sounds produced by Tiago Correia Paulo of 340ml. It is interesting, rhythmic: her husky, sweet voice could seem an odd match, but it works.
“My eyes have turned so green/ My pastures have given life to/ Streams of emerald deep/ Dreams of evergreen .”
She stops to mimic a motorbike. “Brrrrrrrrrrrr brrrrrrrrr! Have to get the cobwebs out,” she says, sipping from her trusty cup of tea. “Ginger tea before a performance, I can’t live without it.” She keeps tea in her handbag, too.
The other thing she can’t do without is dining out. She once wrote restaurant reviews part time. At her favourite spot, Licorish in Bryanston, she sips a watermelon martini.
“I love to cook. Curries, mostly, I love blending spices from downtown Maritzburg. But I love the tasting plates at this place. They do a protein in three ways, very experimental.” She orders lamb, in a spring roll, grilled and slowbraised.
There is something similarly mixed up about her music style. “People say it is great to listen to, but aren’t sure where to put it. I call it alternative soul. It is soul influenced by jazz, classical, lounge music.”
Mvuyana believes she is creating an image — sultry, not sexy; interesting, not outlandish; and conservative, rather than controversial. She performs at intimate venues rather than for crowds. She wears evening dresses by local designers — no glad rags.
One of her recent performance was hosted by high-end tea atelier, Yswara; scented candles, champagne and rose petals. “I have thought about the image that goes with my music. I can dress sexily if I want to, but I won’t frolic in my underwear. For me, it is not about getting naked or using sex to sell my song. I have always tried to keep the music authentic.”
She wrote most of the love-centric album. “My favourite song is 6am which features Pedro Pinto from 340ml, and Sweet Love, about how my world wouldn’t work without my love.”
She laughs. “Yes, I’ve had a great love already. But I am not seeing anyone right now. There is just too much going on.”
Her confidence stems from good grounding. Her mother, a singleparent nursing sister, advised her not to study music immediately, but to do a marketing diploma as a fall-back plan.
“My mum encouraged me to do something which would allow me to stand on my own two feet. She said life is tough enough as a woman, and it is harder to be a dependent woman. It made me very independent. If my time and life were in someone else’s hands I would not have been able to pursue everything that I have.”
Bongi Mvuyana’s stage is set, the album is cut and the iTunes single is up. All it will take is a leap.