Ntombi ya Mutsonga wins Best Praise Singer award at the SATMA’s
Giyani Xitsonga poet, Masingita Shibambu, also known as Ntombhi Ya Mutsonga, bagged herself an award for the Best Poet of the Year at the LIMAs and Best Traditional Praise Singer of the Year at the SATMAs.
“I am a multi-award-winning praise singer driven to promote arts and culture. “I was born and bred in the dusty streets of Matiyani village. “I am the official #SONA2020 Imbongi, the first Tsonga poet to usher the president of South Africa in at the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on February 13 last year. SONA has by far been my biggest platform to manifest my poetry to the world,” she said.
“I am also the founder of NYM Arts Academy, an arts institution aimed at building and nurturing creatives in rural areas. I grew up in a Christian family. This made me engage in activities at Sunday school, from drama to music, poetry and storytelling. This is where I discovered my gift for poetry,” she said.
In 2014 she got to perform for the first time on stage at a competition that had an audience of more than 500 people. “On that day, particularly when I was on stage, I experienced a deep intense feeling and I gushed out the words of ancient poetry that I never thought resided in me. We obtained the first position and I have never looked back. “In 2015 I wrote a praise poem for my late grandmother on her 80th birthday celebration. This platform gave me exposure not only to my relatives and community but surrounding villagers who attended the ceremony.
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“Thereafter, I was asked to perform at family gatherings and at funerals I would pay tributes. At weddings, I was asked to usher the bride. This helped me build my confidence and made me fall more in love with poetry,” she added. In 2018, she published her first video poem titled ‘Africa’’ which made the rounds on social media.
The video scored her interviews and features from the local radio stations like Mala FM and GCR FM. From there she has been a guest on many radio and television shows, nationally and locally and was chosen to be a trailblazer at many national events of which the latest was when she was honoured to usher Hosi Xigalo at his inauguration ceremony on May 22, this year.
“My poetry is featured every Monday-Friday on SA FM at 15:00 on Beyond The Headline hosted by Aldrin Sampear. I am currently a student at the University of Limpopo studying towards Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies,” she added.
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She is a benevolent, young and dynamic who believes in building relations and interacting with people of various backgrounds. She says her dream is to strengthen communities. She values empowerment, sharing inspiration with others and proving a helping hand to those in need as it gives people a sense of belonging.
“Giving back to the community is one way of strengthening communities as it creates a very strong community with a high quality of life which means safer, healthier lives for everyone. “Thus, I have started a sanitary pad drive campaign aimed at reaching out to less privileged young girls who are victims of period poverty.
“The aim is to keep them in class for effective learning and progressive results as they will not bunk school due to lack of sanitary towels,” concluded Masingita.
