Nomfusi

Nomfusi's life story was described by Rolling Stone South Africa as "the sort of story Hollywood is bound to snap up."

She was born in the township of KwaZakhele in the Eastern Cape and raised by her single mother named Kwazibani (“Who Knows?” in English) while her father was serving a 21-years incarceration sentence.

A domestic worker by day, Kwazibani was a sangoma (African medicine woman) with a gift for music. Nomfusi would accompany her mother to the weekly sangoma rituals ("Intlombe") where she would develop her interest in music and artistic identity by dancing and singing for hours.

Tragically, in 1998. Nomfusi was suddenly orphaned at the age of twelve when her mother died of AIDS. Nomfusi’s aunt took them in, but she also died of the same disease three years later. With remarkable inner strength, Nomfusi turned her situation around to become one of South Africa's brightest stars. Never one to pity herself, but teaching kids and adults "that life is about choices” and that "one has to overcome the poverty of the mind first”.

She has done outreach work at schools for vulnerable children in Soweto, Swaziland and Malawi. She's been invited three times at an annual symposium of "The Afrikadey Festival" in Calgary, Canada to serve on a panel and discuss the role of women and the arts in Africa. She has recently become an ambassador for MES, an NPO based in Hillbrow that helps homeless individuals get back on their feet.

Nomfusi is as much a homegrown woman as she is a woman of the world. She cares deeply for her community while not shying away from the world of glitz, glamour and success. As she makes a statement in her anthem against poverty "Nontsokolo" - "Remember your sister, your brother, your mother and your neighbour. Don't leave them behind. Go back, and make a difference."

Today Nomfusi is married with two beautiful children and is living in Johannesburg.

CAREER & MUSIC

She’s not one to just stand behind a microphone and sing, but the self-taught singer and songwriter has become well known for her untamed stage performances all over the world.

Nomfusi´s music is a beautiful mix of genres from joyful Township sounds with Maskandi guitars to Afro Pop, Afro Soul and beautiful soulful Ballads with a hint of Gospel.

Growing up in the squatter camps in South Africa circa 90’s, Nomfusi was exposed to the traditional XHOSA sounds and to the American Soul music which was widely played in prominent South African radio stations.

In her music, the power vocalist tells evocative stories - stories seen through the eyes of a township girl about her life growing up in a shack. Stories from the inside of her mothers house, a tiny shack which Nomfusi wants to share with the world.

While the Townships are widely associated with poverty, crime and reflecting times of race wars in South Africa. There are all kinds of stories to be found and cultivated for...