The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
THE first person to talk excitedly about Nomathamsanqa Mkhwananzi’s voice is local playwright and director Sihlangu Dlodlo. I still remember him telling me how he was excited about the young woman from Iyasa who was going to play the lead role in his new musical play Penpals. I also remember him saying Nomathamsanqa’s voice was the perfect example of something with a “wow” effect.
Her voice is capable of making one’s hair stand. And believe you me, dear reader; Dlodlo is one gentleman that is not easily impressed. I never really got to feel the wow effect of Nomathamsanqa’s voice until last week when, she launched her debut album at the Bulawayo Theatre.
Everyone in attendance of the launch left the theatre totally mesmerised by the power of Nkwali’s voice. Half the audience could be heard going “wow, what a voice”, after the show.
A friend and colleague in the arts fraternity — Admire Kudita had this to say about the album launch and Nkwali’s talent, “Noma showed poise and complete mastery of her craft on stage making Nkwali one of our leading ladies of song.” But she has gone beyond — beyond the ones that dominate national radio. Alone without frills and without the male backup she soared, as she transported the audience to dizzying heights with a repertoire that included original and urban contemporary standards such as Brenda Fassie’s Weekend Special and Dorothy Masuka’s Pata Pata. South Africa has Lira, Zonke and Busisa but we needn’t fear, we have more. We have Noma and several others.
Reading Kudita’s glowing review all I could see was Dlodlo talking excitedly about Noma’s voice years ago.
I for one loved the set where she featured Impumelelo Shining Stars. You could feel her voice dominating the choir, not in a bullish and respectful manner but dominating gentle, musically. The combination made me sit up and listen. It is a winning combination. It was her show and you could feel she was the star of the night. I loved the fact that Impumelelo Shining Stars did not try to outshine her, they knew their role.
I loved Nkwali’s costume. Sidumiso Tshuma, the evergreen and award-winning designer did well in costuming her. She looked elegant and different. She looked like the star she was on the night. There is nothing so exciting like attending an event where you realise that everything has been thought about. The images that came out of the projector, the short history about Nkwali, her career with Iyasa, the short speeches by fellow artistes such as Sandra Ndebele-Sibindi and Jeys Marabini and her regular European trips. Yes, all the bricks were laid, one after the other, so beautifully and so artistically that it will take months to forget.
The only dark spot on an otherwise beautiful launch was the quality of the CDs that were distributed before the launch. These were Nkwali’s CDs that the audience took home as part of the freebies. Unfortunately, a wrong format was used to print the CDs and most cannot be played on an ordinary CD player. Nkwali and her team have apologised for the inconvenience and therefore asked those who attended the launch to return the faulty CDs to Iyasa to be replaced with correctly formatted discs.
On another note the Bulawayo Arts and Culture Agenda will be holding its November Dialogue meeting at Bulawayo Club.
The discussion will focus on women in the arts and issues affecting them. The discussion falls within the 16 Days of Gender Activism. The Bulawayo Arts and Culture Agenda, which is supported by Culture Fund of Zimbabwe through the Culture Impacts programme invites women in arts in Bulawayo to attend the dialogue meeting. More details about the meeting can be obtained at Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo.
