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The Soil ‘blown away’ by fans’ reception of Reimagined ahead of performance in Soweto
The Soil is currently on the road performing their new album.
The Soil is currently on the road performing their new album. Picture: thesoilmusic/Instagram
In her 86 years on earth, the unparalleled US poet and memoirist Maya Angelou learnt that people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
It had been seven years since music outfit The Soil last released an album and the reception they’ve received for their fourth studio album Reimagined has been a reverberation of Angelou’s sage words.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say we weren’t blown away by the reception,” one of The Soil’s founding members Ntsika Ngxanga, told The Citizen.
Homecoming
The trio is currently on the road performing the album to their fans. They recently played a show at Emperors Palace’s Theatre of Marcellus and will perform at the Soweto Theatre on Friday, 23 August.
The Soil came into the music industry as a fresh-sounding acappella group in the 2010s and captured the hearts of many with songs such as Joy, Baninzi and Inkomo.
The mere mention of the aforementioned ditties makes some of their audiences gush with nostalgic feelings.
Such is the feeling they’ve given people through their music.
The group was established during the noughties when the members were still learners at Tetelo Secondary School, so performing in Soweto is significant for them.
“These are people who know us and saw us rehearsing after school during our days at Tetelo. Our family, parents and friends will be there. Ticket sales are incredible,” shared Ngxanga who wishes they had increased capacity as they did in Gqeberha.
“But we’ll do something next year that can have us performing for a few days.”
ALSO READ: The Soil’s new member, Theo Matshoba, fits in acapella group like glove
Fan appreciation
The 11-track Reimagined was released in February this year and soon after coming out, the project amassed over a million streams on Spotify.
“Immediately after that happened we announced our tour. We went to Cape Town, Gqeberha- Gqeberha was worse because we had to increase the capacity because of the number of people who bought tickets,” said Ngxanga.
The Soil’s new member
Reimagined is the first album since the departure of Buhlebendalo Mda from the group; her place was taken by Theo Matshoba. The performance in Soweto will be the first time she performs with the group in Soweto, where she is also from.
“She’s from Soweto and it will be like introducing her to people who know her. This show is more sacred. It blows me away that this is where she grew up.”
ALSO READ: ‘I really want to reset, recharge, reflect’ – Nonn Botha on her departure from 702
Back in 2011, Matshoba posted on social media that her favourite group, The Soil, had an element missing – she is that element.
Five years later, when Mda took a sabbatical from the acapella group, The Soil advertised for auditions and Matshoba applied and landed the job. She filled in so well during that time, that it was a no-brainer to call on her when Mda wanted to permanently exit the group.
The audience
Ngxanga admits that there were some nerves about how the market was going to react to a new, but not-so-different voice in the group.
“It would be a lie to say we were not anxious. We know how dope [good] she is, but she was also anxious.”
“There will be critics. We are conservative people,” Ngxanga says of South African audiences.
“People in South Africa don’t like change. But I want to say thank you for believing in us, you’d swear that we’ve been like this [with Matshoba] for many years.”
The brother to another – The Soil founding member Phindo, Ngxanga said Matshoba’s seamless settlement in the group is a testament to the feeling their music gives to their audiences.
“The Soil is bigger than any of us, it’s bigger than individuals. It’s a relationship based on honesty and authenticity. The songs still convey how they [fans] feel every day.”
“Even in a time of social media, where people easily forget or start following other groups, they remembered us. 18 years in existence shows that it’s a give-and-take relationship we have with our fans.” The Soil will be one of the headliners at the Switzerland Music Festival later in October.
They will also travel to Morocco later this year.
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