BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
South African singer & songwriter Thando Zide announces the Pre-Add for her Debut EP UMvulo. Born Thandokazi Phanyaphanya ‘Thando Zide’, the 23-year-old singer who hails from Johannesburg, Soweto, was born into a musical family with chorister parents.
Given her musical lineage, Zide said her musical journey began before birth. Constantly surrounded by music and a music-loving family, she quickly assimilated into such a life. Exposed to her parents’ choir rehearsals and sonic family gatherings, Zide’s love for music was inevitable.
She attended the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, which she describes to be a place where the world of music opened up to her and her love for it was nurtured into a passion.
Inspired by rich indigenous sounds, through her music, by incorporating influences of jazz and contemporary sounds with indigenous African sounds from all over Africa, Zide aims to keep the African rhythm beating. She advocates for in-depth arts and culture education and exploration to aid self-expression as well as cultural pride and preservation.
In her five-track debut album, UMvulo, Zide touches on various themes that any ordinary person relates to such as love, heartbreak, faith, betrayal and healing. She goes on a storytelling and poetic journey through these themes inspired by personal experiences and the experiences of the people she’s encountered.
With this project, the artist went on an explorative journey, experimenting with different sounds and genres, where she introduced and concluded the body of work with African rhythms, having ballads and contemporary sounds sandwiched in between. UMvulo, taken from the artist’s home language, IsiXhosa, for “Monday”, is the artist alluding to the beginning of her journey into self.
Image: Supplied
