Artist pursues her love of music

Growing up in a musical family in the small town of Delmas in Mpumalanga developed and triggered a great love for music for Diepsloot- based Afro-soul music artist and actress Nhlanhla Makuwa.

Makuwa, who has been in the music industry for more than 20 years, later moved to Johannesburg to pursue her music dream.

She said her music journey had not been an easy one to travel with a lot of challenges she had to go through and overcome. “I started singing and doing music at a very young age, I was 10 years old then. My uncle was an instrumentalist and he would often call us to come and sing along while he was playing,” she said.

“I started to develop a love for music and dreamt of becoming a music star one day. When I moved to Joburg, I got exposed to different kinds of art and started writing songs. In 2003, I released my debut album.”

She added, “Though I was more interested in singing only in the beginning of my career, I later realised that there was more to art besides music. I started to do theatre and dance which I found interesting. I worked as a backup vocalist for many well-known artists and performed in theatre before going solo.”

Makuwa recently released her new album, Mandulo (which means long time ago) with six tracks as her fourth instalment. “People and music lovers have responded extremely well to my previous work. Mandulo is one of those albums that sold many copies, more than my others.

“Yes, the journey has not been easy but that will not stop me from making good music for my people.”

She added that things had been tough for them as artists since lockdown restrictions were put in place in March last year.

She concluded, “Lockdown restrictions have affected the art industry more than any other industry. Most of us have not found gigs since March last year and that has affected our livelihood.”

Details: For more on Nhlanhla Makuwa’s music, contact 072 028 8334.