SA: Listen to Simphiwe Dana’s Apple Music Home Session 

The Home Session EP is exclusively available to stream on Apple Music in Spatial Audio. It features two exclusive unplugged tracks from the jazz icon including her smash single ‘Ndiredi’ and ‘Usikhonzile’, as well as a cover of Miriam Makeba’s ‘Lakutshon’ Ilanga’.

Other artists featured in the programme include Mango Groove, Mi Casa and Springbok Nude Girls. The initiative features reimagined signature songs and covers from artists across various genres, and forms part of Apple Music’s Heritage Month campaign called Amaqhawe (which means hero).

Amaqhawe seeks to celebrate the legacies of South African musicians who used their voices for change. It features curated guest playlists from South African icons Yvonne Chaka Chaka, TKZee, Rebecca Malope, DJ Ready D, Oskido, Judith Sephuma, Thandiswa Mazwai, Mafikizolo, Khuli Chana, Laurika Rauch and The Soil. It also includes an Amaqhawe playlist curated by Apple Music’s editorial team, featuring songs from some of South Africa’s biggest artists across all decades, including Brenda Fassie, Letta Mbulu, Johnny Clegg, Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Mandoza.

Dana said: “The pandemic taught me that I have everything I need inside of me. That prayer can ground you and help you breathe. It gave me the space to realise what my next moves should be. Who I had become and who I should become. This period helped me rediscover myself. It helped me remember who I am, and was, before the world took away my innocence – the Simphiwe of Kulture Noir and the albums before that. It has helped me thus to challenge and dare myself. I have always looked at myself as my own competition.”

Listen to Simphiwe Dana's Apple Music Home Session here.