I often talk about the ability that music has to make its listeners feel something. Another thing I love about music is its incredible capacity to resonate with people, across cultural and geographical lines. I recently discovered a South African artist, Bongeziwe Mabandla, who epitomised this experience for me. Although I do not understand the language Mabandla sings in, something about the music resonates with me on a deep level.
There’s something universal about the process of making songs and the collective activity of listening to them. It’s also impossible to argue against the fact that to feel is something distinctly human, and that that is something that goes beyond the powers of language.
I discovered Mabandla on Instagram when I stumbled upon a video of him performing at a venue in Morocco, and frankly the live performance and the produced tracks are quite difficult to tell apart. But aside from the fact of his flawless execution, Mabandla’s music is emotive and nuanced in a unique way. It has a tender sensitivity to it that speaks to the human experience in a way that stands out from the noise.
Mabandla seems to combine elements of folk with traditional South African sounds and modern indie touches in a unique blend that I’ve never heard before. His sound is simultaneously entirely fresh and reminiscent of great South African artists past. The song Umlilo, for example, features the top register xylophone effect common to indie releases post 2000, while maintaining a rhythmic, folksy style of guitar and a crooning, sincere vocal. I’ve mentioned before that it is often the fusion of elements from different genres and styles of music that grabs my attention. That is definitely the case here.
What is especially interesting to me is that it is usually the lyrics that I focus on when I’m listening to music, but my inability to understand Mabandla’s lyrics has opened up my ears to the depth of the music and what it is trying to communicate. On each listen, I feel as though I have received the message of the song in a beautifully subtle way.
I encourage you to branch out from your music tastes. Why not indulge in some French electronic music or an album of jazzy Christmas hits form a bygone era? There’s always something to be gained from experiencing something different, even if that starts and ends at getting you out of your head.
Mabandla’s music encompasses both excellence and emotion, and this is what I admire most of all. Give him a listen, I doubt you’ll regret it.
