THE WORLD'S BEST NEW ALBUMS MONTHLY
WORLD TOUR #14 SOUTH AFRICA - MEDIA PLAYERS
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World Tour #14 South Africa
WORLD TOUR #14 SOUTH AFRICA - ALBUMS
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uNomkhubulwane
NDUDUZO MAKHATHINI
Released 7 June 2024
Blue Note Records
*****
A deeply spiritual piano suite grounded in Zulu cosmology, uNomkhubulwane flows like ancestral memory channeled through modal jazz.
Nduduzo Makhathini is a South African pianist, composer, and healer whose music bridges spiritual practice and jazz improvisation. Born in Umgungundlovu, KwaZulu-Natal, he draws from Zulu traditions, sacred rituals, and the legacy of South African jazz greats such as Bheki Mseleku and Abdullah Ibrahim. Makhathini’s Blue Note recordings—including Modes of Communication (2020), In the Spirit of Ntu (2022), and uNomkhubulwane (2024)—have helped establish a global following for his distinct blend of modal jazz, healing intention, and philosophical inquiry. He holds a PhD in music and lectures at Fort Hare University, where his academic work informs his holistic, ritual-based compositional approach.
uNomkhubulwane is more than a jazz album, it is a suite of devotion. Named after the Zulu goddess of agriculture, fertility, and rain, the album unfolds in three movements: Libation, Water Spirits, and Inner Attainment. Across its 11 tracks, Makhathini channels deep spiritual resonance through cyclical piano motifs, shimmering textures, and solemn, incantatory pacing.
There are no flash solos or climactic crescendos here—this is jazz as meditation, not spectacle. Makhathini’s trio—Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere on bass and Francisco Mela on drums—function more like spiritual accompanists than rhythm section. Bells, chants, and echoes create a ritualistic soundscape that evokes Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, while remaining utterly rooted in South African soil.
Standouts include “Omnyama,” where a hypnotic left-hand ostinato holds space for fluid melodic searching, and “Izibongo,” a piano-and-voice prayer that feels suspended in time. The album’s production is warm and intimate, capturing the trio in subtle dialogue with silence.
Makhathini’s mission, to bring African spirituality to the fore of jazz expression, has never been more focused. With uNomkhubulwane, he offers not a performance but a portal: an invitation to listen beyond notes, into the mythic spaces between them.
Read more… Blue Note Records
3
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM
Released 26 January 2024
Gearbox Records
*****
A luminous, late-career statement, 3 is both a reflection and a renewal, reaffirming Ibrahim’s place among the greats of global jazz.
Abdullah Ibrahim, born Adolph Brand in Cape Town in 1934, is a towering figure in South African jazz. Initially recording under the name Dollar Brand, he gained international recognition in the 1960s when Duke Ellington facilitated his first recordings in the United States. Ibrahim’s music intertwines African rhythms, gospel, and jazz, often reflecting themes of exile and return. His compositions, such as “Mannenberg,” became anthems of the anti-apartheid movement. Now in his late 80s, Ibrahim continues to perform and record, his work characterized by a profound sense of spirituality and a deep connection to his cultural roots.
3 is a double album that captures two distinct performances by Ibrahim and his trio—flautist Cleave Guyton Jr. and bassist/cellist Noah Jackson, both members of his longtime ensemble, Ekaya. The first disc features a studio session recorded directly to analogue tape on a vintage 1” Scully machine, offering an intimate, unadorned sound. The second disc presents a live recording from a sold-out concert at London’s Barbican Centre in July 2023.
The album opens with “Barakat,” a piece that unfolds with delicate piano phrases, gradually joined by flute and bass, creating a serene, contemplative atmosphere. Throughout the album, Ibrahim revisits and reinterprets earlier compositions, such as “Water from an Ancient Well” and “The Wedding,” imbuing them with a sense of reflection and renewal. The trio’s interplay is marked by subtlety and space, allowing each instrument to breathe and contribute to the collective soundscape.
3 stands as a testament to Ibrahim’s enduring artistry, blending his rich musical heritage with a contemporary sensibility. It’s an album that invites repeated listening, each time revealing new layers of emotion and nuance.
Read more … Bandcamp
$/He Who Feeds You…
Owns You
THE BROTHER MOVES ON
Released 4 November 2022
****-
Radical theatre-funk and liberation jazz collide in an album that feeds the soul while asking who controls the kitchen
The Brother Moves On (TBMO) is a Johannesburg-based performance art collective turned avant-garde band, known for genre-defying releases and electrifying live shows. Blending spoken word, experimental rock, spiritual jazz, maskandi, and protest theatre, they offer more than music—they stage sonic rituals of resistance. Led by Siyabonga Mthembu (also a member of Shabaka Hutchings' Native Rebel label family), TBMO has become one of South Africa’s most vital post-apartheid ensembles. Their work critiques systems of power and reclaims African futurism through community-driven storytelling.
$/He Who Feeds You…Owns You, their second full-length album, sharpens their aesthetic into a powerful, multilayered manifesto. The album is a thrilling, politically-charged mosaic, equal parts township funk, ritual incantation, and cosmic jazz odyssey. Opening with “Bayakhala,” the album immediately sets its tone with ancestral cries and harmonized grief. What follows is not a collection of songs, but a sequence of provocations, each track confronting spiritual dispossession, colonial residue, and commodified culture.
Siyabonga Mthembu’s vocals, somewhere between preacher, griot, and street philosopher, glide over kaleidoscopic instrumentation: drums gallop with urgency, saxophones swell like a war cry, and guitars spiral into psychedelic density. “Puleng” is both haunting and transcendent, blending Zulu idioms with free-jazz sax and masked vocal harmonies. On “We Distil,” the groove locks into a meditative trance, as the band conjures a sonic space for healing and redefinition.
Produced in part by Shabaka Hutchings, the album’s sound is dense and spiritual without being abstract. Its complexity never loses the pulse—it’s fiercely grounded in the realities of Black South African life. TBMO don’t just make protest music; they make music that protests, reimagines, and resurrects.
$/He Who Feeds You…Owns You is a landmark in South Africa’s new musical resistance: intellectual, rhythmic, and ablaze with purpose.
Read more… Bandcamp
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Radio Sechaba
BOKANI DYER
Released 12 May 2023
Brownswood Recordings
*****
A sonic celebration of African diaspora and jazz - Radio Sechaba is a vibrant, exploratory homage to cultural roots and global connection.
Bokani Dyer, a leading figure in South Africa’s contemporary jazz scene, has steadily built a reputation for his innovative fusion of jazz with African sounds. His music blends the complex structures of modern jazz with the rich rhythms and textures of traditional African music. Radio Sechaba (translated as "Radio Nation") showcases his growth as an artist, as he channels African heritage, ancestral memory, and modern-day global influences into a cohesive, forward-thinking sound. Known for his sensitive yet inventive piano work, Dyer pushes the boundaries of jazz with intuitive improvisation and emotional depth.
Radio Sechaba is a deeply reflective and expansive album that spans the breadth of South Africa's musical landscape while embracing global influences. The title track introduces a radiating pulse of Afrobeat rhythms, interwoven with Dyer’s dynamic piano improvisations and sweeping brass arrangements. There’s an almost cinematic feel to the music, as if each composition is a chapter in a larger narrative—one that spans across continents, generations, and cultures.
“Echoes of Biko” honors South Africa's legacy of struggle and resistance, fusing militant drumming with meditative melodies. Meanwhile, “Sankofa” blends soulful, spiritual jazz with intricate percussion that calls to mind the African diaspora’s yearning for a return to roots.
Dyer's interplay with his band—featuring notable musicians like saxophonist Justin Badenhorst and bassist Sibusiso Mashiloane—flows with synchronicity and spontaneous expression, creating a musical dialogue that never feels stagnant. The album’s diversity of sound reflects not only Dyer’s technical mastery but also his ability to weave complex themes into universally relatable emotions. Radio Sechaba is an evocative and adventurous journey that deepens with every listen, merging the past and the present, the local and the global.
Read more … Bandcamp
Rainbow Revisited
THANDI NTULI & CARLOS NINO
Released 17 November 2023
****-
A transcendent, cross-hemispheric improvisation session - South African intuition meets LA cosmic flow in an album that defies gravity.
Thandi Ntuli, Johannesburg pianist, composer, and vocalist, is one of South Africa’s most visionary musical figures. Merging jazz, soul, and spiritual traditions, she approaches music as ritual and resistance. Her practice embraces improvisation, healing, and ancestral memory.
Carlos Niño, based in Los Angeles, is a producer, percussionist, and ambient-jazz explorer whose “Spiritual Improv Music” label has hosted work with Laraaji, André 3000, and Jamire Williams.
Their 2023 collaboration Rainbow Revisited is not just an album, it’s a conversation between hemispheres, lineages, and sonic cosmologies. Fully improvised and profoundly attuned, it invites listeners into a world where structure is feeling and melody is breath.
Rainbow Revisited was recorded in a single afternoon in LA, but it feels like it came from another plane entirely. The record captures pianist Thandi Ntuli and percussionist-producer Carlos Niño in a state of deep listening and intuitive exchange, floating through ambient textures, modal jazz, spiritual chant, and unstructured groove. Where Niño’s past collaborations often revolve around layered overdubs, this album foregrounds immediacy: the shimmer of a cymbal, the warmth of Ntuli’s piano voicings, a voice murmuring in isiXhosa like a breeze through reeds.
The highlight might be “As We Return,” where Ntuli’s gospel-rooted harmonies spiral around Niño’s tuned percussion and bells, culminating in a spontaneous chant that feels sacred. Elsewhere, “Water Womb” unfolds like an ancestral hymn, and “The Gift of Intuition” is pure cosmic balm. There’s a looseness here, but not aimlessness—every gesture is guided by feeling rather than form.
This is not jazz, ambient, or classical in any orthodox sense, it’s music made from breath, pulse, and trust. For fans of Alice Coltrane’s Turiya tapes, Don Cherry’s late spiritual work, or even ambient Eno, Rainbow Revisited is a meditative gem with profound replay value.
Read more … Bandcamp
uMuzi
MUZI
Released 23 October 2023
Fool's Gold Records
Reservoir Recordings
****-
A deeply personal sonic journey, uMUZI sees Muzi blending Afrohouse, synth-pop, and introspective storytelling to craft his most intimate album yet.
Muzi, born Muziwakhe McVictor Mazibuko, is a South African DJ, producer, and vocalist renowned for his innovative fusion of Afrohouse, electronic, and hip-hop elements. Emerging from Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, Muzi has consistently pushed musical boundaries, earning the moniker "Zulu Skywalker" for his futuristic soundscapes. His previous works, including Boom Shaka and INTERBLAKTIC, showcased his ability to merge traditional African rhythms with contemporary beats. With uMUZI, his fifth studio album, Muzi delves into autobiographical themes, offering listeners a raw and heartfelt exploration of his personal history and cultural roots.
His most introspective project to date, uMuzi is an auditory memoir, chronicling pivotal moments from his life, from his parents' love story in "eMtunzini" to reflections on his own experiences with fatherhood and loss. Tracks like "Light" pay tribute to his late mother, while "Problems" delves into the complexities of his relationship with his father .
Musically, uMUZI is a tapestry of genres. "Milk & Honey," featuring The Last Skeptik, infuses grime elements into a lo-fi jazz backdrop, while "Queen," a collaboration with Coldplay's Chris Martin, seamlessly blends Zulu lyrics with synth-pop melodies . The inclusion of South African legends like Madala Kunene on "A Letter to Zeno" and Abazukulu baMakhoza on "iGagasi" further roots the album in its cultural context .
Read more ... Bandcamp
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Queen Nandi:
The African Symphony
NDABO ZULU & UMGIDI ENSEMBLE
Released 10 October 2020
*****
A jazz symphony fit for a queen - Ndabo Zulu's spiritual epic revives Zulu royalty with trumpets, choirs, and ancestral fire.
Ndabo Zulu is a South African trumpeter, composer, and bandleader whose work bridges indigenous Zulu traditions and large-ensemble jazz. Trained in classical trumpet and mentored by South African jazz greats, Zulu formed the Umgidi Ensemble as a pan-African orchestral collective blending traditional rhythms, voice, and instrumentation with contemporary improvisation. His music is spiritually charged and rooted in cultural storytelling, drawing equally from the legacies of Hugh Masekela, Bheki Mseleku, and the griot traditions of West Africa. Queen Nandi: The African Symphony is his magnum opus to date, a project that elevates South African jazz to a cosmic and ceremonial plane.
Queen Nandi is more than a jazz record—it’s a ritual performance, an ancestral invocation, and a political reclamation all in one. This 90-minute symphonic suite, performed by an 18-piece ensemble, honors the life and legacy of Queen Nandi, mother of Shaka Zulu, and channels that story into a transcendent blend of spiritual jazz, isicathamiya vocal traditions, indigenous percussion, and orchestral arrangements. Zulu’s trumpet is both a call to arms and a cry from the soul, weaving through layers of harmonic tension and choral catharsis. Vocalist Siyabonga Mthembu (The Brother Moves On) appears like a griot, guiding the listener with poetic incantations. Each movement unfolds with cinematic pacing, from lullabies to battle cries, giving space to improvisation without losing structural integrity. The album avoids the overproduced sheen of crossover jazz, instead sounding raw, open, and ritualistic. It’s politically potent, spiritually nourishing, and musically towering—a defining work of South African contemporary music. Recommended for fans of Pharoah Sanders, Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, or anything on Brownswood.
Read more … Bandcamp
On The Romance of Being
DESIRE MAREA
Released 7 April 2023
Desire Marea, Mute Artists
*****
A Zulu mystic in full bloom - Desire Marea makes heartbreak sound like a holy rite on this avant-pop masterpiece.
Desire Marea is a KwaZulu-Natal-born multidisciplinary artist, singer, and healer whose music explores queerness, ancestry, and spirituality through a radically expressive lens. Formerly one half of the experimental duo FAKA, Desire has emerged as a solo artist blending opera, electronic minimalism, traditional Nguni vocal idioms, and post-industrial textures. Their work challenges binaries—between gender, genre, and tradition—offering a deeply personal vision that also taps into collective African cosmologies. With training in traditional healing and a background in performance art, Marea creates music that is as emotionally raw as it is compositionally complex. On the Romance of Being marks a creative and spiritual peak.
This is not a breakup album, it’s a ceremonial exorcism in full surround sound. On the Romance of Being is Desire Marea’s sonic altar: orchestral, operatic, tender, and terrifying. Recorded with a nine-piece ensemble in Johannesburg, the album draws from spiritual jazz, Zulu choral traditions, and minimalist composition, but what’s most arresting is its emotional openness. “Be Free” explodes like a divine tantrum; “Mfula” aches with layered harmony and ancestral lament. Desire’s voice ranges from ghostly whisper to theatrical incantation, often within a single phrase, turning each track into a shapeshifting prayer. There’s a clear affinity with the drama of Anohni or Björk, but Marea’s palette is firmly rooted in Southern African sound worlds—layered percussion, vernacular rhythms, call-and-response invocations. The arrangements are never predictable, often swelling into chaotic beauty before resolving into silence or sob. It’s rare for experimental music to feel this human. Whether you hear it as queer gospel, Afrofuturist torch song, or post-colonial art music, this is one of the most fearless and fulfilling albums to come out of South Africa in the past decade.
Read more … Bandcamp
iLadi
Linda Sikhakhane
Released 12 July 2024
Blue Note Records / Universal Music Africa
****-
Echoes of the sacred and the avant-garde coalesce in Iladi, a saxophonist’s offering to spirit, memory, and Black sonic futurism.
Linda Sikhakhane is a Durban-born saxophonist, composer, and educator whose work bridges Zulu spirituality, pan-African improvisation, and experimental jazz. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Sikhakhane is deeply rooted in South African township traditions while actively engaging global jazz vocabularies. His previous releases (Two Sides, One Mirror and An Open Dialogue) marked him as a rising voice, but Iladi cements his stature. As a member of Nduduzo Makhathini’s circle and a bandleader in his own right, Sikhakhane’s approach emphasizes ancestral connectivity, language preservation, and sonic ceremony. His work often explores “ilima” (communal gathering) as a musical and philosophical principle.
Iladi is a spiritual invocation disguised as a jazz record. Drawing its name from a Zulu word referencing sacred offerings or sacrifices, Sikhakhane’s third full-length album is a reverent, multi-modal exploration of memory, grief, and transcendence. The album flows like a single breath, blending spoken word, ensemble improvisation, and modal themes into a ritual-like arc.
The band—featuring Benjamin Jephta (bass), Sphelelo Mazibuko (drums), and Nhlanhla Mahlangu (voice)—moves with collective intuition. Sikhakhane’s tone on tenor saxophone is rich and prayerful, more interested in evoking presence than showcasing dexterity. “Amathongo” builds slowly from silence into a powerful chant-driven climax, while “Wad’Phapha” pulses with urgency and quiet resistance.
What sets Iladi apart is its sonic depth and spiritual clarity. Field recordings, whispered invocations, and polyrhythmic percussion are woven through the mix, evoking the liminal space between performance and prayer. Like uNomkhubulwane or Ibrahim’s 3, it rewards deep, undistracted listening.
Sikhakhane is not just making jazz—he’s restoring a sacred sonic lineage. Iladi isn’t merely an album to hear; it’s an album to receive. It sits confidently at the crossroads of tradition, innovation, and ritualized healing.
Read more… Blue Note Records
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Synthetic Hearts Part I & II
MSAKI & TUBATSI
Released 26 May 2024
NO FORMAT!
*****
Two hemispheres of the same broken heart - Msaki and Tubatsi craft a poetic double album of chamber soul, ghost jazz, and spiritual codes.
Msaki (Asanda Lusaseni Mvana) is an award-winning South African singer-songwriter celebrated for her genre-blurring sound, poetic lyrics, and collaborations spanning amapiano to orchestral jazz.
Tubatsi Mpho Moloi, flautist and vocalist with Soweto’s Urban Village, brings a folk-rooted mysticism and improvisational sensibility to every performance. Their partnership, recorded in Paris with French cellist and producer Clément Petit, moves between languages (isiXhosa, Sesotho, English), moods, and genres with rare emotional precision. The result is a luminous pair of albums that stretch the idea of protest music inward, toward tenderness, memory, and personal myth-making.
Together, Synthetic Hearts I & II form a double album of remarkable intimacy and breadth: two complementary meditations on connection, estrangement, and cultural memory.
Part I unfolds like a whispered diary: guitar, flute, and cello braid around Msaki’s ethereal voice, while Tubatsi delivers rich, grounded verses that sound both ancient and modern. Tracks like “Come In” and “Madonna” inhabit a dusky, folk-noir register, echoing Joni Mitchell and Lhasa de Sela but rooted in the soft cadences of southern Africa.
Part II deepens the palette with minimalist electronics, hypnotic polyrhythms, and ambient flourishes—think Ryuichi Sakamoto meets Nduduzo Makhathini on the Paris Metro. The emotional timbre shifts from longing to spacious introspection. “Nsizwa” pulses with restrained urgency; “Fall” disintegrates into glitchy prayer. It’s less immediate but equally rewarding, inviting repeated listens to uncover the textures within. The balance of acoustic and electronic production feels earned, never ornamental.
This is protest music without slogans, love songs without clichés, folk without fences. Msaki and Tubatsi have made something quietly revolutionary: a genreless, bilingual, deeply human double LP that lingers in the psyche long after its final note.
Read more … Bandcamp-I | Bandcamp-II
Lora
MPHO SEBINA
Released 23 October 2020
Shakti Soul
****-
Dreamy soul from Botswana, where ancestral memory meets neo-soul sensuality in a deeply intimate debut.
Mpho Sebina is a Botswana-born singer-songwriter whose genre-blurring sound fuses R&B, soul, hip-hop, and traditional Southern African melodies. Drawing inspiration from Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Sade, and heritage folklore, Sebina positions herself as a conduit between past and present, urban and ancestral. Her voice is warm and unhurried, with a tone that embraces introspection as much as groove. Lora, her debut LP following a string of acclaimed singles and EPs, is both a tribute to her Setswana roots and a declaration of global ambition: meditative yet rhythmically rich, personal yet expansive, feminine yet grounded in tradition.
Lora is a gently unfolding work: seductive in its softness, but resonant with quiet power. Sebina’s vocals float over downtempo beats and liquid guitar lines, often drawing from Tswana harmonies and oral storytelling. There’s a clear reverence for 90s neo-soul throughout, but what distinguishes Lora is its emotional sincerity and regional grounding.
Opening track “Dinaledi” shimmers with a celestial vibe, setting the tone for a journey through love, memory, and identity. The standout “Black Butterfly” is both lullaby and affirmation: its sparse arrangement lets Sebina’s vocal intimacy shine. On “Tjuele,” she switches fluidly between English and Setswana, evoking a rich cultural lineage without sacrificing universal appeal.
Production across the album is airy but purposeful, with subtle nods to lo-fi hip-hop, Afrobeat, and folk-tronic textures. The result is music that feels handcrafted, devotional, and defiantly calm. Sebina avoids bombast; instead, she invites listeners into a dreamstate where vulnerability is strength.
Lora is an understated gem—music for dusk-lit rooms, long walks, and self-realignment. A fine example of how regional soul can speak in a global tongue without losing its spiritual accent.
Read more… Music In Africa
Ngiwu Shwabada
SIBUSILE XABA
Released 28 February 2020
Komos
****-
Ancestral futurism at its most haunting—Xaba channels spirits, jazz, and folk mysticism into a singular acoustic incantation.
Sibusile Xaba is a South African guitarist, vocalist, and improviser whose work defies genre and expectation. Rooted in Zulu spiritual traditions and shaped by jazz, folk, and experimental techniques, Xaba’s music draws comparisons to both Ali Farka Touré and Skip James, yet belongs to no lineage but his own. Often performing with a nylon-string guitar and chanting in isiZulu, he creates sound worlds that feel both ancient and avant-garde.
His previous LPs Unlearning and Open Letter to Adoniah introduced his mystical, anti-linear approach. On Ngiwu Shwabada, Xaba offers his most distilled and personal invocation yet—a raw, improvised album that breathes like ritual.
Ngiwu Shwabada isn’t just a record, it’s a spirit event. Recorded in a single day with minimal production and maximum presence, it captures Xaba mid-trance, channeling ancestral energies through fingerpicked guitar and breathy incantation. The music resists categorization: it’s not jazz in a technical sense, nor folk in a Western sense, but something closer to a living oral tradition filtered through dream logic.
The opening piece “Umdali” begins with a whisper, gradually opening into fluid arpeggios and ghost-tones. There’s no rhythm section, no chord charts—just Xaba and his instrument merging into one voice. His use of voice—sometimes murmured, sometimes keening—is not lyrical but phonetic, emotive, like prayer. “Izono Zami” feels like a confession spoken in tongues, while the title track is a rhythmic meditation wrapped in flame.
Though entirely acoustic, Ngiwu Shwabada feels charged with electricity. Fans of artists like Lonnie Holley, Joseph Spence, or early Robbie Basho will find familiar strangeness here, but Xaba’s sound remains utterly his own. This is sacred music for a postcolonial present: enlightened, elemental, essential.
Read more ... Bandcamp
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Tyla+
TYLA
Released 11 October 2024
FAX Records, Epic, Sony
****-
Amapiano breaks the global charts! Tyla ushers in a new wave of South African pop innovation
Tyla Laura Seethal, known mononymously as Tyla, is a South African singer and songwriter who rose to global prominence with her 2023 hit "Water," becoming the first South African solo artist in decades to break into the US Billboard charts.
Rooted in amapiano, Tyla coined her own sound as "popiano," blending South African rhythms with R&B, Afrobeats, and Western pop structures. Born in Johannesburg in 2002, she quickly captured international attention for her poised stage presence and style-forward image. Her self-titled debut album positions her at the forefront of a new generation of genre-bending African artists making global inroads.
Tyla+, is a calculated but compelling step into the global mainstream. From the shimmering, minimal amapiano beat of "Water" to collaborations with artists like Tems, Gunna, and Becky G, Tyla walks a tightrope between authentic South African expression and international radio appeal. Where early singles may have hinted at a one-hit viral sensation, the full album reveals Tyla's ear for sleek, emotionally reserved pop songwriting. Tracks like "Truth or Dare" and "On and On" showcase restrained vocal performances set against subtly propulsive grooves, while the more traditional amapiano pulses on "Butterflies" and "To Last" maintain a connection to her Johannesburg roots.
While some critics may bemoan a lack of lyrical depth or dynamic vocal range, Tyla+ succeeds on its own terms - a global-facing debut that introduces a distinct stylistic identity without overreaching. Tyla may not be a revolutionary artist yet, but she is a smart and stylish one, and Tyla+ lays solid groundwork for long-term pop relevance with unmistakably South African DNA.
Read more... Tyla
Imvumi
MASHUDU
Released 15 November 2004
****-
A triumphant debut that blends heartfelt storytelling with amapiano's infectious rhythms: a compelling new voice in South African music.
Mashudu Mosoeu, known mononymously as Mashudu, is a South African singer-songwriter who has steadily risen through the ranks of the amapiano music scene (a hybrid of deep house, gqom, jazz, soul and lounge music characterized by synths and wide, percussive basslines; the name derived from the IsiZulu word for "pianos". Prior to her debut album, Mashudu drew attention through collaborations alongside industry heavyweights like Kabza De Small, DJ Maphorisa, and Musa Keys. Her soulful vocals and emotive delivery set her apart, allowing her to infuse depth into the genre's dance-floor-ready beats. With Imvumi, Mashudu steps into the spotlight, showcasing her versatility and cementing her place as a leading female voice in a predominantly male-dominated genre.
Meaning "singer" in isiZulu,Imvumi is an eight-track journey that marries amapiano's signature log drums and synths with introspective lyrics and rich vocal performances. The album opens with the title track, featuring T-Man SA, setting a tone of authenticity and personal reflection. "Kwazulu," with Murumba Pitch and Soa Mattrix, pays homage to Mashudu's roots, blending traditional melodies with contemporary production.
Standout track "Ngempela," featuring Kabza De Small and Murumba Pitch, delves into themes of love and longing, showcasing Mashudu's ability to convey deep emotion. The pre-release single "Linda," a collaboration with Bassie, Tycoon, Tumisho, and Soa Mattrix, explores patience and resilience in relationships, resonating with listeners through its heartfelt lyrics and soulful arrangement.
Throughout the album, Mashudu collaborates with a host of talented artists, including Shakes & Les, Mthunzi, ilovelethu, Brandon Dhludhlu, and Happy Jazzman, each bringing their unique flair while allowing Mashudu's voice to remain the focal point. The production is polished yet retains an organic feel, allowing the emotional weight of the songs to shine through.
Imvumi is more than just a debut; it's a statement of intent. Mashudu delivers a cohesive and emotionally resonant project that not only showcases her vocal prowess but also her ability to craft songs that speak to the human experience. In a genre often dominated by beats, Mashudu reminds us of the power of storytelling.
Read more ...
Bamako
SIMPHIWE DANA
Released 17 March 2023
****-
A mesmerizing fusion of African roots and modern soul - Bamako effortlessly blends jazz, Afrobeat, and pan-African sensibilities
Simphiwe Dana, hailing from the Eastern Cape of South Africa, is one of the most respected and influential contemporary musicians in the country. With a rich voice that effortlessly blends soul, jazz, and traditional African styles, Dana has built a career around bridging the gap between heritage and modernity. Known for her politically charged lyrics and emotionally resonant performances, she explores themes of identity, culture, and the African experience. Bamako, named after the capital city of Mali, marks a departure into more global sounds while still deeply rooted in African identity and music.
Bamako is a lush, genre-blurring album that captures Simphiwe Dana’s evolution as an artist. Opening with the soulful groove of “Phantom,” the album immediately sets the tone with rich instrumentation that fuses jazz, Afrobeat, and a touch of electronic texture. Dana’s vocal delivery is stunning, navigating between delicate and powerful with seamless ease, evoking deep emotion.
The track “Mali” stands out as a powerful homage to the West African legacy, bringing together jazzy horn lines, rich percussive rhythms, and Dana’s soulful voice. There’s a sense of unity throughout the album, as it transcends borders and merges African traditions with global sounds. “Bamako” brings together the influences of jazz pioneers like Hugh Masekela and modern-day soul, carrying the same political weight and cultural resonance.
The subtle inclusion of electronic elements alongside acoustic sounds showcases Dana’s innovative approach, adding a contemporary edge to the album. Bamako is a celebration of pan-African musicality, with Dana’s artistry and voice acting as a vehicle for unity, resistance, and cultural pride.
Read more … The Conversation
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Full Moon
MOONCHILD SANELLY
Released 10 January 2025
Moonchild Sanelly, Transgressive Records
****-
Fierce, filthy and full of feminist energy: a boundary-smashing burst of electro-pop, Gqom, and unfiltered attitude
Moonchild Sanelly is a fearless innovator in South African music, globally recognised for her provocative fusion of Gqom, hip-hop, electro, and kwaito, underpinned by outspoken feminist themes. Born Sanelisiwe Twisha in Port Elizabeth, she coined her own style as “future ghetto punk,” using her signature blue hair, high-pitched vocal delivery, and raw lyrical candour to challenge norms. Since collaborations with Beyoncé (Black Is King), Gorillaz, and Diplo, Sanelly has become a genre-bending force who embodies both underground edge and mainstream disruption. Full Moon sees her fully in control, not just as a vocalist, but as a cultural architect and self-possessed icon.
Full Moon is Moonchild Sanelly’s most confident and conceptually unified project yet: a 12-track manifesto of autonomy, pleasure, and punk-funk chaos. It’s high-octane from the jump — opener “Libalele” throws you into a whirlwind of amapiano percussion and lascivious lyrics, while “Bad Bitch Energy” is a bass-driven empowerment anthem ready-made for dancefloors and revolution alike.
The production across the album is tight, slick, and daring. Elements of UK grime, Miami bass, Gqom, and techno blur into each other with no apology. Tracks like “Ghost” and “Deserve” play with tempo and mood, oscillating between seductive minimalism and maximalist hooks. Her voice, often manipulated into childlike squeals or aggressive chants, becomes an instrument of protest and provocation.
Lyrically, Full Moon is bold: she flips gender scripts, mocks patriarchy, and reclaims erotic power without compromise. But there’s a complexity beneath the bravado — a recurring tension between self-possession and vulnerability. “Starlight” hints at emotional scars beneath the swagger, while “Freedom Interlude” draws on ancestral echoes.
In the saturated world of club-pop and alt-rap, Sanelly’s voice is singular. Full Moon doesn’t aim to please — it dares to dominate. It’s radical, raucous, and ridiculously fun.
Read more… Bandcamp
The Star Is Reborn
ZAKE BANTWINI
Released 8 December 2023
Mayonie Productions, Univeresal Music
****-
Ancestral power, electronic finesse, and crossover ambition combined to reaffirm his visionary role in South African music.
Zakes Bantwini is one of South Africa’s most respected and commercially successful electronic music producers, celebrated for bridging deep house, Afro-tech, and pop since the 2010s. A trained jazz musician and industry entrepreneur, Bantwini rose to international prominence with hits like “Osama” (with Kasango), showcasing his knack for blending spiritual vocal elements with club-savvy structure. His music is deeply rooted in the rhythms of KwaZulu-Natal and consistently reflects themes of upliftment, ancestral connection, and transformation. The Star Is Reborn arrives after a brief hiatus, positioning him not just as a hitmaker but a mature, self-assured architect of Afro-electronic culture.
The Star Is Reborn is a mission statement. With finely curated features, top-shelf production, and a balance of introspection and dancefloor drive, Zakes Bantwini uses this release to reclaim the spotlight while extending the boundaries of Afro-house. From the stately opener “Mama Thula” (with Skye Wanda) to the layered, organ-laced “Abantu” (with Karyendasoul & Nana Atta), each track is spacious yet emotionally charged.
Where much contemporary Afro-tech can lean into cold repetition, Bantwini injects warmth, gospel-inflected phrasing, and deep melodic sense into his arrangements. “Girl in the Mirror” flirts with amapiano's log drums but steers toward a lush ballad format, while “Impumelelo” builds slowly into a spiritual crescendo, emblematic of his jazz roots. His signature restraint — building tracks from slow burns rather than drops — keeps the album grounded and human.
This is music for big systems and bigger skies: not so much festival bangers as sonic invocations. Bantwini isn’t chasing trends — he’s consolidating his vision. With The Star Is Reborn, he invites the listener into something closer to a rite of passage than a party. His star, clearly, never dimmed — it’s just entered a more luminous phase.
Read more … Wikipedia
Turn Off The Lights
TxC
Released 7 June 2024
TxC Enterprises / LVRN Records
****-
TxC raise the temperature and dim the lights with a silky, amapiano-drenched slow burn built for sweat and swagger.
TxC is the dynamic DJ-producer duo of Tarryn Reid and Clairise Hefke, a rising powerhouse in South Africa’s global amapiano wave. Blending lush soundscapes with deep log drum grooves, the pair are as stylish as they are sonically sharp, known equally for their club presence and finely tuned fashion aesthetic. Since emerging around 2021, they’ve redefined the boundaries of amapiano with a more international, pop-savvy feel. Turn Off the Lights marks their most ambitious project to date: a genre-hopping, female-fronted showcase that elevates amapiano beyond dance floors into realms of romantic tension and late-night intimacy.
On Turn Off the Lights, TxC polish their signature log drum bounce with an elegance that feels both club-ready and cinematic. The album opens with sultry restraint, layering shimmering synth pads over deep, percussive amapiano beds. Guest features, from Davido to Tony Duardo and Nigerian star Leemckrazy, bring Afro-pop heat without disrupting the duo’s focused mood.
TxC’s success lies in how they balance amapiano’s core energy with smooth R&B toplines and sensual ambiance. Tracks like “Yebo” and “Turn Off the Lights” breathe, built on steady tempo, but leaving ample space for vocals and atmosphere to bloom. “Maboko” leans toward kwaito nostalgia, while “Calling” evokes early-2000s neo-soul, refracted through South African sound design. Throughout, the duo keep their production crisp, controlled, and mood-driven.
Unlike many amapiano albums that pile on dancefloor fillers, Turn Off the Lights is front-to-back listenable — romantic, hypnotic, and surprisingly restrained. TxC aren’t trying to shout over the amapiano crowd; they’re gliding through it in slow motion, turning down the volume and turning up the sensuality. It’s not revolution, but it’s refinement — and it works.
Read more … Wikipedia
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Meeting With the King
and THE REBELLION
DJ LAG
Released 18 February 2022
and 26 June 2024
Black Major x Ice Drop
*****
The king of gqom levels up - this is global bass music with local heat, built for both the dancefloor and the archives.
DJ Lag, aka Lwazi Asanda Gwala, is a pioneering producer and DJ from Clermont, Durban. Widely credited as one of the founding architects of gqom (a African style of House Music, originating in Durban, typified by minimal, raw and repetitive sound with heavy bass but without the four-on-the-floor rhythm pattern), his dark, percussive, and minimal approach helped redefine South Africa’s electronic music scene and pushed the sound to global stages, from underground clubs to fashion runways.
With collaborations ranging from Beyoncé (Black Is King) to Okzharp and Moonchild Sanelly, DJ Lag’s impact has been both grassroots and international. Meeting With The King is his long-awaited debut full-length, showcasing the full range of his production mastery while staying rooted in Durban's sonic DNA.
Meeting With The King is a manifesto in which DJ Lag expands the scope of gqom without diluting its essence. The production is thunderous and spatial, often stripping away melody in favour of pure rhythmic tension. Collaborations with Babes Wodumo, Lady Du, and Mr JazziQ bring amapiano textures and lyrical energy into the fold, suggesting gqom's adaptability rather than its extinction. The album’s sequencing builds momentum like a DJ set, moving from street-level tension to moments of catharsis. While gqom has sometimes been dismissed as too raw or functional, Meeting With The King proves it's capable of emotional and textural depth. This is South Africa’s electronic underground at its most ambitious—urgent, political, and designed to move both bodies and minds.
On The Rebellion, DJ Lag sharpens the spear of Gqom’s global insurgency. This release is rawer and more insurgent than Meeting With the King, with stripped percussion, cinematic synths, and a restless, militant energy that nods to both Durban’s townships and pan-African futurism. Tracks like “Kwenzekile” and “Hade Boss” are visceral, club-tested assaults, yet moments of reflection appear through vocal features that deepen the emotional range. Lag proves Gqom is not a spent force but an evolving idiom—rigid and mechanical, yet always alive to its social roots and rhythmic potential. A powerful, focused return.
Read more … Wikipedia
Anima Mysterium
YUGEN BLAKROK
Released 1 February 2019
Yugen Blakrok & I.O.T. Records
*****
Mysticism meets mic control - Yugen Blakrok channels the cosmos in one of the most visionary hip-hop albums of the decade.
Yugen Blakrok is a Johannesburg-based MC known for her esoteric lyricism, occult references, and deep boom-bap sensibility. She broke out globally after featuring on the Black Panther soundtrack alongside Vince Staples, but her solo work stands alone, melding old-school hip-hop aesthetics with a sci-fi, pan-African spiritualism. With roots in South Africa’s underground and strong ties to European labels like I.O.T. Records (France), Blakrok commands attention with her calm but intense flow. She’s part of the indie collective Iapetus Records and often collaborates with beatmaker Kanif the Jhatmaster, whose smoky, analog production defines the dark, cinematic vibe of her records.
Anima Mysterium is less an album than a ritual. From the moment “Gorgon Madonna” kicks in, with its heavy drums and arcane imagery, Yugen Blakrok makes it clear this is not your average rap LP. She delivers rhymes like incantations—cryptic, philosophical, and steeped in arcane symbolism. The beats, mostly by Kanif the Jhatmaster, blend raw drum loops with psychedelic synths and eerie samples, conjuring an atmosphere that recalls early Wu-Tang, Dr. Octagon, or even Massive Attack at their darkest.
Blakrok’s verses dig deep into mythology, quantum physics, and the psychology of power—whether on “Obsidian Night,” where she drops lines like “constellations move through me,” or the haunting “Picture Box,” which explores media control and surveillance with chilling calm. Despite the intellectual depth, the album never loses its raw groove. Songs like “Morbid Abakus” and “Hibiscus” ride head-nod beats that keep the listener grounded while Blakrok elevates the conversation.
This is hip-hop as sacred text: layered, allusive, and defiantly anti-mainstream. Anima Mysterium rewards repeated listens, with each spin peeling back more of its dark, poetic universe. A cult classic in the making.
Read more … Bandcamp
Afrorave Vol. 1
TOYA DELAZY
Released 18 June 2021
Afrorave / Delazy Entertainment
****-
Zulu punk meets London rave - Toya Delazy tears down genre walls with a warrior’s cry and a producer’s ear.
Toya Delazy is a South African artist, now based in London, whose music defies categorisation. Trained in classical piano and raised in a royal Zulu lineage (she’s the granddaughter of ANC stalwart Mangosuthu Buthelezi), Delazy fuses indigenous rhythm, political fire, and electronic futurism. Her coinage of “Afrorave” isn’t a gimmick—it’s an urgent, personal hybrid of gqom, grime, drum’n’bass, and punk attitude, all rapped and sung in isiZulu and English. As an outspoken LGBTQ+ artist, Delazy’s work radiates resistance and authenticity, using rave energy as both a safe space and a sonic revolution.
Afrorave Vol. 1 is her fiercest, freest work to date and it is not for the faint-hearted. It opens with “Qhawe,” an explosive track that merges grime beats and Zulu vocal chants, establishing the album’s ethos: unapologetically African, radically future-facing. Delazy’s voice veers between confrontational MC flow and anthemic melodies, while the production (mostly her own) slams with distorted bass, jagged synths, and rattling percussion.
What sets this album apart is its insistence on cultural hybridity. “Resurrection” blends Amen break chaos with ancestral wailing, while “Shego” is a queercore club banger that could rattle a Brixton warehouse. Tracks like “Tini” and “Bambezela” offer moments of melodic clarity and groove without losing intensity.
While not every track is equally refined—some flirt with overload—Delazy’s vision is unmistakable: to rewire rave music through a Southern African cosmology. It’s raw, defiant, and utterly singular.
In the same way artists like M.I.A., Spoek Mathambo, or Dope Saint Jude reframe pop from the margins, Toya Delazy kicks open a portal where tradition and rebellion meet on the dancefloor. Afrorave Vol. 1 is a future classic—loud, proud, and revolutionary.
Read more … Bandcamp
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As Above, So Below
SAMPA THE GREAT
Released 9 September 2022
Loma Vista Recordings
Concord
****-
An ancestral download riding on trap bass, mbira magic, and total self-possession.
Zambian-born, Botswana-raised, an Australian resident since 2013 and now globally revered, Sampa The Great is a poet, rapper, and visionary known for her fierce intelligence, diasporic consciousness, and genre-defying sonic palette. Her work traverses hip hop, soul, Zamrock, and spiritual jazz, with a delivery that is as emotionally resonant as it is technically sharp.
With As Above, So Below, Sampa The Great makes a triumphant return to the African continent—not only physically, by recording the album in Zambia, but sonically, by grounding her sound in the soil and sweat of Southern African tradition. Gone is the more fragmented, searching energy of her 2019 debut The Return; in its place is a cohesive, low-slung record teeming with layered self-knowledge and radical joy.
Production (primarily by Mag44) leans into percussive textures, bass-heavy trap beats, and sampled Zambian psych and choral music, with featured appearances from Denzel Curry, Joey Bada$$, Angelique Kidjo, and WITCH legend Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda, whose presence roots the album even deeper in regional legacy. Yet Sampa remains the gravitational centre: incisive on “Lane,” exuberant on “Never Forget,” and hypnotic on “IDGAF.” Her voice flexes from chant to growl, calm to commanding, carrying a spiritual clarity that goes well beyond the realm of hip hop. This is an artist fully in control of her message, unafraid to be esoteric, seductive, or righteous.
While the album has wide appeal, it speaks most strongly to listeners attuned to the experimental pulse of the continent’s creative reawakening. It’s grounded. It’s global. And it’s utterly her own.
Read more ... Sampa The Great
Down Lucky's Way
MALOMBO JAZZ MAKERS
Original release 1969
Re-released 5 May 2023
Tapestry Works Limited
*****
Where Coltrane meets the calabash on Pretoria’s dusty edge.
Lucas ‘Lucky’ Madumetja Ranku (1941-2016) was one of the greatest African guitarists of his generation. He first made his name with the Malombo Jazz Makers – the successor group to the legendary Malombo Jazzmen, formed in Mamelodi township by guitarist Philip Tabane, drummer Julian Bahula and flautist Abbey Cindi. When Tabane left the Jazzmen in 1965, Bahula and Cindi called on Lucky to replace him, and the Malombo Jazz Makers were born. Building on the popularity and success of the original Malombo Jazzmen, the Malombo Jazz Makers become immensely popular, touring widely, winning numerous jazz competitions, and recording two successful albums for the Gallo label.
The deep and hypnotic 'Down Lucky’s Way' was their third album. Recorded in 1969, it was the first Malombo Jazz Makers album to feature additional instruments, and the first to feature Abbey Cindi on soprano saxophone as well as flute. But more than anything else, 'Down Lucky’s Way' is a transfixing showcase for Lucky Ranku’s sui generis guitar virtuosity. Quite different from their previous recordings, the album shifted the Jazz Makers’ sound toward hypnotic, extended compositions, layered by organ bass and guitar overdubs. Of all the Malombo Jazz Makers recordings, 'Down Lucky’s Way' is the deepest of mood, and the richest of vision.
Read more … Bandcamp
Bastard Jargon
NAKHANE
Released 31 March 2023
Star Red Music, BMG
*****
Baroque queer pop explodes into maximalist revelation.
Nakhane is a South African singer, writer, and actor whose genre-fluid sound blends art-pop, soul, electronic textures, and radical vulnerability. Known for pushing boundaries both musically and thematically, their work explores identity, queerness, and spirituality with poetic courage and emotional ferocity.
On Bastard Jargon, Nakhane dials up the theatricality and sculpted art-pop sheen, delivering a lush, cinematic, and at times overwhelming experience that unapologetically embraces complexity. Moving beyond the sparse minimalism of You Will Not Die, this record finds Nakhane collaborating with Nile Rodgers, Moonchild Sanelly, and Ian Isiah, layering their voice atop stadium-sized synths, orchestral surges, and sizzling funk guitar licks.
Tracks like “My Ma Was Good” and “Tell Me Your Politik” bristle with urgency, the latter a standout collaboration with Moonchild that channels frustration with post-colonial performativity into a sweaty, groove-heavy protest anthem. Nakhane’s vocal performance is visceral—switching from honeyed croon to operatic belts, often in a single phrase.
The album refuses to be tidy. Instead, it’s a chaos of conflicting selves, sacred yearnings, and sexual provocation. There’s Prince-like falsetto. There’s operatic melisma. There are confrontations with God and nation. It’s not always easy listening, but it’s never anything less than riveting.
By the time the album closes, Bastard Jargon feels less like a collection of songs than an immersive reckoning—with sound, with history, with the body itself.
Read More ... Nakhane Official
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Constitution
ADAM GAMEDZE & THE BLACK LUNGS
Released 27 August 024
International Anthem
****-
Improvised resistance that refuses to breathe clean air under dirty laws.
Adam Gamedze is a South African drummer, philosopher, and improviser who fuses free jazz, collective improvisation, and political inquiry. With The Black Lungs, he channels a radical sonic resistance deeply informed by both spiritual jazz and postcolonial thought.
Constitution is less an album and more a collective act of questioning: of nation, identity, and artistic form.
Recorded live with saxophonists Nicholas Williams and Dalisu Ndlazi, and guitarist Keenan Ahrends, the ensemble rejects structural safety for jagged, incantatory soundscapes. Gamedze’s drumming anchors the group with fluid intensity, at once inciting and responding to eruptions from his co-conspirators.
There are no “tracks” in the conventional sense. Instead, Constitution unfolds like a suite: open, unsettled, and defiantly unpolished.
On “Revolution is not a metaphor,” Ahrends’ guitar dances in and out of tonality while Williams’ saxophone screams and spirals through echoing unrest. Gamedze’s sticks chatter with purpose - expressive, never ornamental.
The spoken interjections are vital, drawing from decolonial texts and radical critique. This is jazz not for cafes but for classrooms and barricades. It’s fierce music: intellectual, but never academic; spiritual, but far from tranquil. Like the best of Archie Shepp or Max Roach, the message isn’t hidden in the music, it is the music.
Constitution doesn’t soothe. It stirs. And in a country still haunted by legal fictions and economic violence, that’s exactly the point.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Indaba Is
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Released 29 January 2021
Brownswood Recordings
*****
Joburg speaks in plural: pasts remembered, futures imagined, nothing silenced.
Curated by pianist/composer Thandi Ntuli and bandleader Siya Makuzeni for Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label, Indaba Is assembles a vital cross-section of Johannesburg’s progressive jazz, soul, and spiritual music scenes. It’s less a compilation than a call to attention — an indaba, or communal council, in musical form.
Indaba Is gathers some of South Africa’s most searching young voices in a lovingly unpolished compilation of spiritual jazz, post-soul improvisation, and poetic urgency. Opener “Ke Nako” by The Ancestors sets a meditative tone, with trumpet, chants, and percussion flowing in solemn tribute. The album becomes more expansive with the electro-acoustic layering of Thandi Ntuli’s “Dikeledi” and the fluid Afro-futurism of Bokani Dyer’s “Mogaetsho.”
What distinguishes Indaba Is is its refusal to unify: each track sounds like a manifesto for a different future. The Wretched (led by Gontse Makhene) channel righteous anger through thick textures and spoken word on “What Is History.” Siya Makuzeni’s contribution, “Hold On,” is minimalist and raw, her voice trembling with both vulnerability and insistence. The compilation’s sequencing is masterful — quiet pieces stretch into eruptions, spiritual musings give way to dissonant declarations.
Unlike many jazz compilations, Indaba Is feels truly rooted in place and politics. The sound is deeply local, yet globally resonant. These are not polished exports; they are local testimonies insisting on space in the global imagination. It’s a crucial document — one that captures a movement mid-bloom.
Read more … Bandcamp
Konke
SEBA KAAPSTAD
Released 13 November 2020
Mello Music Group
****-
Thandiswa doesn’t just return, she uplifts, reminds, and reinvents.
Thandiswa Mazwai is one of South Africa’s most vital musical voices. Rising to prominence as lead singer of Bongo Maffin in the '90s kwaito wave, she evolved into a solo artist with sharp political instincts and deep musical intelligence, drawing from Xhosa tradition, jazz, soul, and protest music with fierce, poetic intensity.
Sankofa marks a triumphant return for Thandiswa — an expansive, multi-lingual, diasporic work that feels both ancient and afrofuturistic. Recorded across Johannesburg, Dakar, and New York and executive produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, it blurs lines between jazz, soul, hip hop, West African griot traditions, and Southern African folk.
The title — an Akan word meaning “go back and fetch it” — is a central theme: the album meditates on African memory, healing, and ancestral wisdom. Songs like “Kulungile” and “Child of the Rainbow” mix spirituality and groove, layering percussion, vintage synths, chants, and warm basslines with her soaring vocals. Elsewhere, collaborations with Nduduzo Makhathini and American poet Saul Williams reveal her interest in jazz freedom and lyrical confrontation.
Rather than serving commercial hooks, Sankofa asks its audience to sit, listen, and reflect — it’s more art song than pop. The production is lush, cinematic, and unwavering in its commitment to sonic Black consciousness. This is protest music in the fullest sense: radically personal, spiritually searching, and grounded in a pan-African feminist vision.
Thandiswa doesn’t just return — she uplifts, reminds, and reinvents.
Read More ... Bandcamp
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We Are Sent Here By History
SHABAKA AND THE ANCESTORS
Released 13 March 2020
Impulse Records
****-
A warning, a ritual, a prophecy — spoken in rhythm and blown through fire.
Led by UK-born saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and featuring a cast of South Africa’s most agile improvisers, We Are Sent Here By History is a fiercely poetic afro-futurist requiem for colonial trauma, urgent resistance, and ancestral memory.
Though not South African by birth, Shabaka Hutchings’ deep collaboration with Johannesburg-based musicians on We Are Sent Here By History warrants inclusion as one of the most searing and essential expressions of pan-African consciousness in modern jazz. Recorded with The Ancestors — including Mthunzi Mvubu (alto sax), Nduduzo Makhathini (keys), Ariel Zamonsky (bass), Tumi Mogorosi (drums), and Siyabonga Mthembu (vocals) — the album bristles with righteous energy and layered intent.
Tracks move between chanted liberation verse (“Beast Too Spoke of Suffering”), freeform jazz rupture (“The Coming of the Strange Ones”), and tightly wound groove meditations. The spoken texts, primarily delivered by Mthembu in arresting half-sung poetry, frame the record as a conceptual warning: a mythic reckoning for what empires have wrought — and what must now be rebuilt.
Sonically, it's dense but propulsive. Makhathini’s keys shimmer like spiritual currents; Shabaka’s tenor burns through the mix like a prophet in full possession of grief and vision. Every instrument testifies. This isn’t jazz as relaxation — it’s jazz as ancestral commentary, revolution, and healing.
Read more ... The Quietus
Subconsciously
BLACK COFFEE
Released 5 February 2021
Ultra Records
*****
Global house elegance, filtered through South African soul.
Black Coffee, born Nkosinathi Maphumulo, is South Africa’s most globally recognised DJ and producer. Rising from Durban’s house scene to international prominence, his deeply emotive, minimalist productions draw from kwaito, deep house, and soul. Now a Grammy-winning artist, he collaborates across continents while retaining his South African sonic fingerprint.
Subconsciously is Black Coffee’s most polished and commercially expansive release to date. Built across sleek, slow-burning grooves and contemplative chord progressions, the album combines the atmosphere of late-night Afro-house with the vocal sheen of pop and R&B. Yet rather than bow to international tastes, Black Coffee subtly retools them—African percussion loops, asymmetrical rhythms, and hollowed-out basslines underpin each track with distinctive South African flavour.
High-profile collaborations abound: Usher floats over the simmering “LaLaLa,” while Pharrell co-writer Elderbrook injects emotional intensity into “I’m Falling.” French-Malian singer Ami Faku graces “You Need Me” with Xhosa-rooted urgency. The result is an album that shifts between meditative and celebratory without ever crowding its soundstage. It’s often understated to a fault, though some will find its uniform tempos and seamless transitions lacking in edge, but as the saying goes, "this is a feature, not a flaw". In the DJ-producer tradition, Subconsciously is made to flow, not shock.
While not as rooted in township house as his earlier work, the album marks a high point in cross-cultural dialogue, positioning Black Coffee not just as an emissary of South African sound but a world-builder of contemporary deep house.
Read more … Black Coffee Website
Sankofa
THANDISWA
Released 10 May 2024
King Tha Music
****-
A future-soul incantation of healing, defiance, and rebirth.
Multidisciplinary South African singer, poet, and producer Keba Kaapstad breaks boundaries on her debut album Konke, blending soul, spoken word, jazz, and experimental pop into a fiercely original and emotionally intelligent tapestry.
Konke (meaning “everything” in isiXhosa and Zulu) is a bold, intimate sonic memoir by Keba Kaapstad, merging language, genre, and vulnerability in a way that feels utterly contemporary yet culturally grounded. Her voice — rich, unhurried, and poetic — carries the emotional weight of stories lived and reclaimed. The production draws from neo-soul, jazz-fusion, and electronica, with glitchy textures, sparse drums, and warm analog synths giving it a modern, immersive feel.
The album is nonlinear in structure, closer to a suite or soundscape than a collection of singles. Tracks like “Amanzi” and “Unyawo Lwam” pulse with ancestral rhythm, while “Antithesis” leans into a cosmic spoken word space reminiscent of Ursula Rucker or Meshell Ndegeocello. Field recordings, layered harmonies, and sudden spoken interludes keep the listener in a heightened state of alertness — this is not background music, but art that demands presence.
Kaapstad resists commercial hooks or neat resolutions. Instead, she offers reflection, resistance, and repair — her voice often framed by silence or ambient haze, as if holding sacred space for something unnamed. Konke feels like a spiritual project wrapped in digital cloth: a singular, necessary vision from a major new voice.
Read More ... Okay Africa
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We Are Sent Here By History
SHABAKA AND THE ANCESTORS
Released 13 March 2020
Impulse Records
****-
Global resistance music with South African soul and London bite.
Keleketla! began as a Johannesburg-based library and arts initiative and expanded into a boundary-smashing musical collective. In 2020, they teamed up with UK electronic pioneers Coldcut to create a pan-African, transcontinental protest album uniting South African jazz greats, UK producers, West African musicians, and rappers from the US to Soweto.
The resultant album Keleketla! is a politically charged, genre-defying collaboration that channels the explosive energy of global resistance into a sonically rich, future-facing sound.
Coldcut bring their decades-deep sampling and beat-craft into a creative dialogue with South African musicians such as Thabang Tabane (son of malombo legend Dr Philip Tabane), Siyabonga Mthembu (The Brother Moves On), and Tony Allen, the late and great Nigerian Afrobeat drumming pioneer.
Tracks like “Future Toyi Toyi” fuse protest chants with driving percussion, and “International Love Affair” builds on Soweto blues and pan-African jazz textures with rich layers of instrumentation. Spoken word passages — especially by poet Hlubi Vakalisa — deliver political fire with poetic grace.
Coldcut’s crate-digging sensibilities never override the spirit of collaboration; rather, their production serves as a vessel for the album’s urgent messages and vibrant African instrumentation. It’s not a UK-meets-Africa pastiche, but a democratic, artist-led effort that bursts with life, funk, rhythm, and purpose.
Keleketla! captures a powerful vision of musical solidarity — an album made by activists, for people dreaming of better futures.
Read more ... Bandcamp
In The Wake
KUGENGA
Released 20 March 2024
Kujenga
*****
Cape Town’s jazz collective redefines spiritual groove.
Kujenga is a seven piece Cape Town-based jazz ensemble known for their dynamic fusion of traditional jazz with Afrobeat, soul, and experimental sounds. Their music reflects the diverse cultural landscape of South Africa, offering a fresh and contemporary take on jazz that resonates with both local and international audiences.
In the Wake is Kujenga's sophomore album, and captures the ensemble's evolution and commitment to pushing the boundaries.
The band's focus was on answering the question; what has it meant to live through the devastations of a pandemic along with the disasters that preceded it and the doom that has followed it?
The album is centered on personal and social experiences, examining the ways in which the endless list of unfolding crises impact our capacity to think, act, dream and love
Read more … Bandcamp
Intwasa The Becoming
ROBIN FASSIE
Released 17 March 2023
Robin Fassie
****-
A cross-continental jazz journey rooted in South African heritage.
Robin Fassie is a South African trumpeter and composer who has been making waves in the jazz scene with his unique blend of traditional South African sounds and contemporary jazz influences. Having studied in Norway, Fassie brings a global perspective to his music, collaborating with international artists while staying deeply connected to his roots.
Intwasa: The Becoming is a compelling debut that showcases Robin Fassie's ability to weave together diverse musical traditions into a cohesive and emotionally resonant work. The album, recorded with a group of Norwegian musicians, reflects Fassie's experiences and influences from both South Africa and Europe. Tracks like “Umthandazo” and “The Becoming” highlight his skillful trumpet playing and compositional prowess, blending intricate melodies with rich harmonies and rhythmic complexity. The album's title, Intwasa, refers to a Xhosa rite of passage, symbolizing transformation and growth — themes that are intricately explored throughout the record. Fassie's music is both reflective and forward-looking, honoring his heritage while pushing the boundaries of contemporary jazz.
Read More ...
SunNeverSetsOnMusic | Sun Never Sets On Music | www.sunneversetsonmusic.com
A monthly digest of innovative new music from around the world
especially Jazz, Contemporary, International, Folk, Avant-garde, Soul, R&B and Soundtracks
including album artwork, album reviews
and YouTube playlists, Spotify playlists.