A normal, humble sort of growing up," he said. "My childhood was very happy, I grew up with my mother.
He'd discovered the guitar as a child in the Eastern Cape, the vast southeastern province that's home to a rich tradition of music and literature. "It really speaks about how love can change you," he said of the lead single "Zange", or "Never".īorn in a village in the south of the country, Mabandla burst onto the Afro-folk scene in 2012 with his debut album Umlilo. His voice conveys both the hurt and the jumbled feelings that love can engender. "It's a form of activism, keeping your culture, loving yourself."Įven those who don't speak the language can understand the emotions of what he's singing. "Xhosa language is very lyrical, very expressive," he told AFP. On his latest album Iimini, or "The Days", he sings love songs in his home language, Xhosa, with all of its distinctive clicks. In his thirties - he refuses to reveal his exact age - Mabandla performs with his guitar, alone on stage with a drummer. They sang about their loneliness, their labour, and the travails of everyday life. Men left their wives and children behind, and during their long absences they created a new genre of music. Others walked miles to work sugar cane fields. He cut his latest album during the height of the pandemic, drawing on the heritage of maskandi, the musical tradition of migrant workers.ĭuring apartheid, trains crossed South Africa carrying workers in livestock cars to labour on the gold and coal mines. Nominated for a South African Music Award in 2018, Mabandla has grown hugely popular in his home country and has performed at concerts and festivals overseas. Bongeziwe Mabandla sings love songs in his home language, Xhosa, on his latest albumīongeziwe Mabandla cuts a striking figure: a muscular folk musician with his trousers rolled up above his ankles, there is still something of the little boy who grew up in the hills of South Africa.
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