The Sunday News
Mbongeni Msimanga, Sunday Life Correspondent
LITTLE known is Nomathamsanqa “Nkwali” Mkhwananzi’s music, perhaps that is because she is one of the city of Kings emerging stars.
Having quickly found her niche at the tender age of seven, after starring in a movie — Power of One, which featured award winning Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman, local actors Alois Moyo, Norman Takawira and the late Sam Banda of Sunduza Arts, her career in the arts quickly bore her fruits.
Never mind performing in front of paltry crowds in her home town, Nkwali has performed alongside the world’s greatest artistes such as Dolly Parton, South Africa’s Jazz Maestro Abdul Ibrahim and Malian Habib Koite.
This year alone, she was nominated for two categories in the Zimbabwe Music Awards for Best new comer and Best new album and bagged an award for Best accapella.
But, like most Bulawayo artistes, she has gone on to seek greener pastures abroad and perform in front of multitudes that seemingly appreciate her better.
“I found myself acting in a role as an extra at the tender age of seven in a movie that featured Morgan Freeman. I was lucky to have got that role for the movie and I remember we would go to Matshobana where the set was and I would play with this man (Morgan Freeman).
“Being exposed to such people made me believe that something was in me that made me want to venture more into the industry and believe that I had more to offer in the arts world,” she said.
So diverse are her talents that when she was at Mpopoma High school, her late Biology teacher, Ernest Mutambirwa, told her that fate had destined her to be a musician. True to those words she lived up to her dream.
“Arts were always a part of me. I grew up listening to music a lot and writing songs. Even my Biology teacher predicted that I was going to be a musician and I remember I was a heroine at school that week.
“People called me the next Brenda Fassie. From there I just accepted who I was and I have never looked back,” she said.
Nkwali has travelled and performed in England with Albert Nyathi, as a backing vocalist and she has grown in leaps and bounds affirming that indeed her voice is a must hear.
The 33-year-old multi-talented artiste believes she still has more to offer the world and like wine her God given talent is still maturing even though she has one album (Sithokozile) to her name.
Some of the tracks featured are Angifuni, Nyawo Lwami, Malayisha, Uthando, Madodana and Laphumilanga and Nkwali’s own compositions, Bazali Bami and Ingoma Yami.
“I believe there is still more that I can do for the arts world and I am yet to grow more,” she said.
Her versatility has also seen her adapt to different cultures and also launched a solo career that is being appreciated by many as evidenced by her recent tour ‘Mother Africa’.
Being Iyasa’s lead singer refined her into a flexible musician that can sing almost all genres of music.
