The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
WHILE other performers bemoaned their plight as Covid-19 lockdowns across the globe grounded them and shut down their streams of income, songbird Berita Khumalo says that the time spent away from the stage reawakened her spirituality and brought her closer to her maker.
The songbird could not reap maximum rewards from her album, Songs in the Key of Love, as it was released on 28 February 2020, on the eve of Covid-19 inspired lockdowns in southern Africa and the rest of the world.
However, while she acknowledges the losses, both financial and human, that came as a result of the pandemic, Berita said the slow pace of life during the lockdowns brought her closer to God.
“With our industries, we are always on the road. You are always looking at the next gig and the next show and I think it was good for us to just be home,” she said in an interview on SABC’s Morning Live.
“Of course, it was not all good. Income was lost and more importantly people’s lives were lost but I think for me I have really taken the time to work on my spirituality and I’m more aligned than I have ever been and I think that’s the most important thing.
If you can align your mind, body and soul and be one, then everything else you do will come from that grounded place.”
The songbird, who is based in South Africa, also outlined the daily routine that she had been using on her journey to attain higher spirituality.
“For me I’m referring to a daily practise of being grateful to God and secondly asking yourself important questions. I do a lot of stuff for example I will wake up and do my yoga, then I do meditation because God says be still and know that I am God.
After that I do some breathing exercises, I read a scripture and do some praise and worship. I will ask myself important questions for the day, like who do you forgive today, because sometimes we hold on to a lot of things,” she said.
Berita said she resultantly sensed a deeper connection to her fans because she made music that fed the soul.
“I think that over the past year, because I had time to myself, I have come to realise that because I make soul music, music that is calming and healing, music that brings you closer to yourself, to your spirit, your core, you begin to see that people resonate with that.
“There is so much going on in the world that is pulling us away from ourselves. So, now I’m making it an intentional thing that whenever I am singing, whenever I am in front of people, I must somehow, through the music, be able to bring people closer to themselves,” she said.
