Simphiwe Dana
Irene Madonko talks to one of South Africa's brightest young vocal talents whose music is a fusion of traditional African music, Jazz and Gospel.
Simphiwe Dana left the Eastern Cape for Johannesburg kitted with a suitcase of dreams. Johannesburg would be the place her voice would crack ceilings and reach for the sky. But dreams alone can’t pay the rent and she had to get a job. ‘It was difficult for the first few months,’ she recalls, ‘my mom had to help me out.’
But then dreams are hard to shake off. Simphiwe mustered her strength and went on stage at an open mic session in Orange Grove. ‘I got a standing ovation, and the next thing I knew I was on TV,’ she says.
And the cameras haven’t stopped rolling since. When I speak to Simphiwe Dana she is working with a film crew; earlier on she had a photo shoot. Her popularity resounds in music columns. She sings at live concerts and tours at home and abroad. She’s emerged from being a skinny village girl to a sleekly diva. She’s keeping her head high in a fast-paced and highly competitive industry, where girls can go as fast as they come. How does she handle it?
Irene Madonko : It’s a Tuesday morning. What does a diva do on ordinary week day?
Simphiwe Dana : I normally wake up at 5:30am, if I’m lucky I go for a jog. I spend time with my kids, Zazi (4) and Phalo (2). We play, dance and bath together. Around 11 or 12 I go to the office. I work there with my sister Qhayia, who is also my manager.
IM : What were your weekdays like about 5 years ago before you got into the business?
SD : I worked as a graphic designer. It was a 9-to-5 job. I liked the graphic design part of it, because I could get creative, but not so much the programming. You sit there and try to figure these numbers and see if it makes sense on the other side of the programme. I’m too much of a creative.
IM : How important is it for black women in music to have an education?
SD : It’s important for anyone in any area of work. Education is like an initiation into adulthood. It prepares you to understand how hard it is to make something out of yourself. To know that you have a role to play. You get self esteem and people can’t mess you around. You’ve got to know your rights as an individual.
IM : Why do people keep noticing you?
SD : That’s a difficult one. You are asking me, but maybe I should be asking you the same question? Maybe it’s because I came with a fresh approach. My music also spoke about things I was going through as an African, and I guess people were going through those things, too.
IM : You received the Best Female Artist of the Year award at this year’s South African Music Awards (SAMA). Competition is tight, but what is it about you that beats the other girls on the block?
SD : You keep asking me difficult questions!
IM : Ok, let’s put it this way: tell me a few special things about yourself?
SD : When things are done in an honest element you get good results. I can’t just write a song because I have to. It’s got to come from the heart. I can’t release something knowing it is not good enough.
IM : Who are the South African female musicians you take very seriously? And why?
SD : From back then it’s been Dorothy Masuka. She was writing songs at a time when musicians had songs written for them. And also Miriam Makeba, she’s an ambassador. There are people I admire like Thandiswa. She mixed the commercial element with the more serious element. She laid the ground for me. When I first came out I was worried because my music is not commercial at all. It’s serious. I thought it would not sell.
IM : Is there something South African female musicians are doing for the industry that their male counterparts aren’t?
SD : The guys can’t sing like us – not in a million years!
IM : This year your album ‘The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street’ got the Album of the Year Award (SAMA). It also got the Best Contemporary Jazz and the Best Vocal Jazz awards. Wow! What made it stick out?’
SD : It came when people were spiritually empty, and it was a welcome change.
IM : In 2005 your debut album ‘Zandisile’ won Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Newcomer. Just how hard did you work to get it together?
SD : I needed to have a place where I could be creative. I was living in a cottage in Troyville, in Johannesburg, and made my studio in a room. From work I’d go straight to the studio to record. All I needed was a mixer and a mic. My IT background helped me. Zazi was a few months old, and I’d take her along. I’d go out to breast-feed her and change her.
IM : What are you doing in your studio these days?
SD : At the moment I’m promoting my album.
IM : You performed at the London African Music Festival in May. What’s your best memory of the London crowd?
SD : I had been doing a few shows in Europe at the time. But the South African element was missing. At the London show I missed home less as there were South Africans singing along and the crowd was lively and it boosted me. A crowd can change your performance.
IM : Any plans to visit London soon?
SD : I’ll be doing a mini-tour in November.
IM : What can we expect?
SD : It’s a two-way thing, the crowd and me. I’m very self-conscious and shy. The crowd needs to be welcoming.
IM : From the bottom of your heart, what is the greatest thing you have achieved for Simphiwe Dana?
SD : I’ve followed my heart, I’ve achieved my dreams. Most Africans don’t have that opportunity.
Simphiwe Dana's albums 'Zandisile' and 'The One Love Movement On Bantu Biko Street' (Warner Brothers) are out now.