Bekezela resurfaces after a long break
SOUTH Africa-based Afro-Soul musician Bekezela, born Bothwell Nkomo (pictured), recently took a break from the music industry to focus on a personal spiritual journey and upon his return, he unveiled a new look and rebranded himself.
But what exactly does this mean for his music? In a recent interview with Standard Style, Bekezela shared that his new journey has helped him to find a deeper sense of purpose.
He has decided to use his music to connect with his heritage and to bring back lost traditions. This new phase of his career will surely be an exciting one to watch!
“I have been through a personal spiritual journey, which I cannot really get into in that sense. However, I think you can see what is happening by following my social media. I’m hinting here and there, hence the new look, the hairstyle, the dressing.
“Definitely yes I am rebranding but I’m still the same old Bekezela that you would know, but just bigger and better in the sense that my purpose and my vision is now solid.
“What I am doing is just to bring back our tradition, (ukubuyisa imbali yabo mkhulu nabokhokho bethu oMzikilikazi kamaMatshobana), which was lost and the best way to do it is through music or musical related approach.”
Bekezela said that’s what he is busy with right now and what his music followers should look forward to this year.
“You will see an Inxwala lecture maybe sometime around Culture month in May,” he said.
“That Inxwala lecture will seek to find and retrace the importance of the pilgrimage of the king Mzilikazi when he was leaving KwaZulu Natal.
“So right now in South Africa I am actually working with Mbuso Khoza who is a well-known culture and heritage ambassador, researcher, a scholar, musician and actor. “He is the one who started these lectures and he is currently doing isandlwana lecture and I have performed with him twice.
“While I was still watching him and following him some years back, I saw him touch on indaba kaMzilikazi kaMashobana and right now with Shaka iLembe, you will notice that Muthaland Ghetto Ruff where I am signed, we are the ones who did the whole sound track.
“Obviously for Mbuso being part of it kwangithonisela ke mina that at some point the Shaka story will touch Mzilikazi, what happens then, if we are not ready to tell our side of our own story on what happened to him when crossed over the Limpopo River and how he backed isizwe samaNdebele.”
Bekezela said the elders entrusted him with a sacred responsibility to trace Mzilikazi’s steps through music.
“So it’s a task I was given ngabantu abadala (the elders) to retrace his (Mzilikazi) steps and obviously do it through music which is something that I was given as a tool, a medium to actually explore,” he said.
“So big things are coming, I inaugurated the Inxwala lecture in Victoria Falls.
“I was there in partnership with Rutsoka Travel and we managed to do it on the eve of the new year the previous year.
“It went very well so we are looking at bringing it to Bulawayo and other parts of the country.
“We will also take it back to KZN where it all started besesibuya nayo making his stops like in Mpumalanga
crossing to Limpopo River and crossing to North West , then Botswana and then current day Zimbabwe.
“So it’s a very interesting phenomenon.”
Bekezela added: “It’s a very big project, which we aware doing that we trace the history of our ancestors and bringing back Ubuntu and bring back how things were done, our culture, Inxwala which has been lost and it’s of importance and we revive it so that we know who we are, and where we are heading.”