Over the past decade, South African singer-songwriter Bongeziwe Mabandla has been reimagining Xhosa folk music. His 2012 debut album, Umlilo, was a largely acoustic effort, combining the genre’s yearning choral harmonies with finger-strumming guitar and an underlying sense of jazz swing; five years later, on Mangaliso, he introduced electronic rhythms, which pulsated beneath his lyrics on love and loss and propelled the dancefloor stomp of his most popular song to date, Ndokulandela. Following the heartbreak-fuelled introspection of 2020’s Iimini, amaXesha (or The Times) vaults to the other end of the scale as his most expansive and wide-ranging record to date. Across its 14 tracks, Mabandla fuses Xhosa lyrics with electronic ambience, hook-laden synth melody and acoustic simplicity.
Opening on the plaintive guitar melody of Sisahleleleni (i), Mabandla’s delicate vocal builds to an anthemic chorus, which undulates through synth processing. The blend of acoustic and electronic continues on standout Ukuthanda Wena, where his strumming weaves through an arpeggiated synth, developing the feel of Ndokulandela to gesture towards the melodic electronica of producers such as Bonobo.
The defining quality of Mabandla’s work is his melismatic voice. Slipping between husky tenor and pleading, crystalline falsetto, he brings purpose to his different vocal styles. Over the synth-pop influences of Hlala, his drawn-out phrasing underpins a yearning for a lover to stay, while Libali’s driving groove is galvanised by his full-throated mid-range.
There are moments on amaXesha where he skips too readily through his sounds – from the acoustic balladry of Ubukho Bakho to the grand organ pads of Xesha (iii) – but, largely, it benefits from his stylistic bravery. No longer just an interpretation of Xhosa folk music, amaXesha places Mabandla’s music firmly in its own lane, capable of transmuting the shades of tradition into something else entirely.
Also out this month
Polish jazz group EABS collaborates with Pakistani improvisational quartet Jaubi on the instrumental suite In Search of a Better Tomorrow (Astigmatic Records). Spiritual jazz fusing with raga melodies and a driving drum-tabla doubling proves to be a potent combination angled firmly towards the live stage. Finnish-Norwegian-Azerbaijani duo Ya Tosiba release their new record, Asap Inşallah (Huge Bass), mixing energetic electronic productions with Zuzu Zakaria’s gorgeous falsetto, singing lyrics taken from Azerbaijani poetry. It’s an unusual pairing that plays like an updated 80s synth-folk find. Tuareg rockers Tinariwen bring their latest album, Amatssou (Wedge), finding an interesting common ground between country instrumentation and the group’s inimitable guitar melodies. Highlights come on the gentle pedal steel backing of Jayche Atarak, as well as the banjo-guitar doubling on Kek Alghalm.
