The latest single from South African artist Bongeziwe Mabandla captures the raw emotion that results from songwriting in a moment of pure heartache.
Titled “ndikhale”, the single is the third from the award-winning artist’s forthcoming album amaXesha and it’s the most earthy song on the album, a potent reminder of the musical essence that’s at the core of all Mabandla’s recorded output.
It’s also replete with emotion, having been written in the hours following a phonecall the artist received while in Orleans, France.
“Sometimes heartache can be terrifyingly moving, and in this case it inspired ‘ndikhale’,” shares Mabandla. In the wake of a call that left him feeling let down, dismissed and unfairly treated, he turned to songwriting to mark the moment and make the pain evident.
“I wanted to go into a hole.That’s how the line “Ngaske Ndikhale ndigaze ndiyeke (“I wish I could cry and never ever stop) surfaced. I held on to that line for a few days while trying to find chords that would match my sorrow.
“What was interesting though was this was not a basic sad song. I was angry about everything that was happening to me and that’s how the fast pace of the song came about. I then worked on the verses of the song trying to put into words why I was angry and I wrote about how I had been a fool in love and believed in empty promises and that I had been mislead into waiting for something that would make me feel unworthy. I then finished writing the song in the studio, saying “bendilapha” (“I was here”). I was fully present and eager. I love this song because it was written in the moment with that raw emotion still bare.”
“ndikhale” was one of the last songs written for amaXesha says composer, instrumentalist and producer Tiago Correia-Paulo. Still falling into the pandemic period – which provides the context for the new album – it emerged during one of the windows that allowed socially distanced shows in Europe.
“We had a gap between shows and decided to go somewhere quiet to flesh out some of the songs from the previous months, when we were working back and forth online,” says Correia-Paulo..
“We hired a small cottage in a rural part of the Netherlands and set up a small recording studio. It smelled so much like cow manure that we had to keep the windows closed! The main acoustic guitar was the first thing we wrote and recorded during those sessions. Maybe influenced by our new surroundings it became a bit of a tangent to the mostly synth/keyboard driven sound we had been insisting on. So organically ‘ndikhale’ became the earthy song of this new album. Short and simple, but still with a punch that could match everything else we were plotting.”
“ndikhale” follows singles “noba bangathini” and “ukuthanda wena”. amaXesha releases on xxx.
Mabandla’s upcoming show at London’s 100 Club on June 1st has sold out and a second night has been added. Tickets are still available for the June 4th London show but are selling fast as the enigmatic spirit of African soul heads out for a slate of new live dates to support his fourth album, amaXesha.Before he performs in London, Bongeziwe flies to Europe for a show in Basel, Switzerland on April 14th at the Gannet Cultural Center and in May, he plays the Afro-Pfingsten Festival in Winterthur, Switzerland, joining others in a celebration of the diversity of Afro cultures.
