Modern Tradition

For this week's new-to-me music, I decided to look at artists from South Africa! Up until now, I haven't really looked at music from the African continent. It was only recently that I started looking for artists outside of those recommended by friends or YouTube, or acts I found mentioned in magazines. Which being in England means a lot of European and North American music!



Freshlyground
This band formed in Cape Town in 2002, though its members come not only from South Africa, but also Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It's seven members play more than the standard setup for a band, with the inclusion of violin, keyboards, flute, mbira, saxophone, harmonica and percussion.
The music itself has a jazzy, indie-rock vibe, but also includes elements of traditional South African music. Their lyrics are both in English and Xhosa, but even without understanding the latter, the feeling of the music is easy to understand. (I embedded the song 'Nomvula' above, because if you're from my part of the world it's not every day you get to hear a song sung in anything but English)
When I listened to this act, the first thing that really stood out to me was how the vocalist sounded. She has an amazing voice, very smooth and emotional! Overall this band is really easy and relaxing to listen to, and their music videos were fun to watch!
Go check out this band!
Freshlyground Official Website



Thandiswa Mazwai
Active since 1998, this musician started out on a talent show, but didn't make the semi-finals. Now a multi award-winning artist, she's certainly shown the world what she's made of!
Thandiswa's music is categorised as afrosoul (which I had to look up--it's a fusion of soul and African music, with a strong influence of vocals and emotions).
Again, even without understanding the lyrics, it's possible to understand the feeling of the song, and enjoy it. I really like the traditional sound to Thandiswa's compositions, and the timbre of her voice is lovely!
Definitely worth a listen.
Thandiswa Mazwai on Twitter
(note: she does have an official website, but Google is warning me that it may have been hacked! :( )


That's it for this week! Check out my goal 29 tag for all the artists I've listened to (so far!) for this challenge!