1980, Gcuwa in the Eastern Cape, Republic of South Africa, marked the birth of Simphiwe

Dana, a multiple award winning music force. That birth, though with other self-discovery and

life paths that saw her pursue graphic design and information technology studies, had always

had an artistic nature and anchor. Dana’s art early formation and nurturing include her

mother’s soulful and impassioned singing, to ‘unknown’ but life force talent that flowered

and permeated Johannesburg small clubs and music scene, to the almost perfect on arrival

professional debut with the 2004 recording, commercial and critical success of her debut

album Zandisile. Her debut was followed by The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street

in 2007, Kulture Noir in 2010, Firebrand in 2014, and An Evening with Simphiwe Dana Live

In Concert and, the 2016 Simphiwe Dana Symphony Experience, featuring Buika and Asa.

Dana’s discography, the intellectual and spiritual content of her art primarily pulses with the

Xhosa cosmology of her cultural background, is Afrocentric in its temperament and identity,

while at the same time possessing a measured and poignant universality in the exploration

and articulation of what it means to be human. Zandisile came almost perfectly formed not

because of some technical trickeries, but because the album manifested unwavering quality

into the recording standards of the South African, continental and even world jazz standards

and historicity, while charting innovative and futuristic accents in the formation and

evolution of her art.

It is no small feat that comparisons, references and artistic kindred spirits vacillated between

Miriam Makeba, Busi Mhlongo and Dorothy Masuka - marking Dana´s arrival, presence and

work in the music realm and by implication continental heritage iconography mature and

universally resonant. Her ground-breaking and standard setting artistic output has, however,

managed to court comparisons with jazz greats like Makeba while at the same time resisting

being boxed. Her craft is charged and beams with individualistic finger prints and

particularity, such that public relations cross referencing and comparisons with musical

personalities and events on the African continents and wider world stage denote individual

brilliance and star quality rather than protégée limitations. In a sense, Dana’s music and

artistic instincts mark her as a force because of the manner of her dispositions – the spiritual,

intellectual, political and revolutionary instincts that colour each song and anchor her social

being and postures as a much admired and often misunderstood public figure. From Zandisile

to her other albums, Dana displays an astute and timeless lyrical command of what it means

to fall in and out of love in songs like Iliwa Lam, My Light, and Ndim Nawe; songs that have

become embedded in our social consciousness. Her political instincts, commentary,

consciousness and revolutionary drive find expression in Thwel’Ubunzima, Bantu Biko

Street, and Vukani, while personal urgency tracks with societal echoes include Ndiredi,

Zundiqondisise, or Umzali Wam. Critically and analytically, the average time gap of four

years between album recordings and carefully selected and curated live performances speak

to her unending quest for artistic purity and weight, such that the repertoire that forms the

backbone of the musical palette remains fresh and commanding. The consistent and unique

quality of her music, social activism and vision on tropes such as education and racism, with

an understated feminist register, is woven into the music without it being distracting or

inconsistent with the grand narrative of her work as an artistic being.

Dana’s continuing prominence on stages at home and abroad, her deliberate long bouts of

calculated silence and retreats insofar as new artistic projects are concerned, have a dual

benefit: that of endearing her to her predominantly musically mature legion of fans because

rarity breeds preciousness and mystery, while affording the artist time to reflect on and

consider new ideological and sonic landscapes. Her recent pilgrimage to Mali and

collaboration with Salif Keita, herself (Mali) a cradle of rich fusion of African cultures and

music, is indicative of her conscious search for and elevation of ancient sounds and wisdom

from the mother continent. The retracing and celebration of the African past, balanced with

the African present, with a gravitation into an African artistic future, with dual existence with

a global music catalogue, is a mark of great artistry and individuality on her part.

In a world of crass and fickle artistry, what gives Dana’s music endurance and flair – like

great painters and writers of yore – is her commitment to record the pains and thrills of an /

our age with lyrical content and perceptive sensitivity that projects understated beauty and

timelessness. A Dana record does not date, but matures and continues to penetrate the

smallest and obscurest crevices of our social fabric, our collective and often vain snobberies

when we opine and submit to the medicinal and spiritual dimensions of art. This explains

why a new Simphiwe Dana album is such a highly celebrated and anticipated occurrence in

our artistic and heritage timeline: because there is foreknowledge on the part of her audience

that great and artistic depth and moral luminance will continue to anchor the overall

architecture of her profound talent and its transformative sonic powers. What is instructive

and self-evident is how songs like Mayine, Ndiredi, and Tribe have, during countless live

performances, undergone such dazzling and majestic re-interpretations while preserving and

maintaining their original studio spark and pulse. Her skill and ability, to master the creation

and guarded evolution of her music, is what separates her as a great artist from fleeting

entertainers.