Bongeziwe Mabandla sings almost entirely in isiXhosa, and his audience, in Berlin, in Vancouver, in a restored henequen plantation outside Mérida, sings every word back. That’s the trick of it, and the point of it. The language is a door, not a wall.
He was born in Tsolo, a small town in the rural Eastern Cape, and raised on the soft-loud architecture of church choirs, Bantu folk songs, and a household where music was a part of every day. The guitar arrived at seventeen. Drama school in Johannesburg followed, then a quiet pivot: songs, open mics, his 2012 debut Umlilo, and a Top 10 finish at France’s Prix Découvertes RFI before most South African listeners had caught up.
The real engine of the catalogue, though, is his partnership with Mozambican producer and instrumentalist Tiago Correia-Paulo. Tiago has been the architect alongside him since Mangaliso -the 2017 album that won Best Alternative at the SAMAs and established the formula that still holds: Mabandla’s guitar and tenor at the centre, Correia-Paulo’s electronics blooming around them. iimini (2020)- a song-cycle about a relationship’s unspooling, dropped one day after South Africa’s hard lockdown began, landed on American Songwriter’s Top Albums of the Year and got NPR calling it “a gorgeous saving grace in trying times.” amaXesha (2023) was named The Guardian’s Global Album of the Month.
Ndingubani “Who am I?” in isiXhosa, arrives 11 June on Black Major. It’s the fourth album with Correia-Paulo, and his most introspective: songs about leaving Tsolo for music, the years of pursuit and betrayal that followed, a cancer scare and the recalibration it left, depression imagined as a prison whose gates might finally open. Cameroonian songwriter Blick Bassy joins him on “Ndije,” a song about accepting the parts of yourself you once couldn’t. The European leg of the tour wrapped to sold-out rooms in Berlin, Paris, Zurich, and Bristol; the South African run is mid-flight; Reunion Island and Womad Glasgow follow.
Mabandla is, by now, a magnet for collaborators who want a piece of the frequency. Spoek Mathambo on the SAMA-winning “Bawo Wam.” Sun-El Musician and Claudio x Kenza on “Sala Nabani.” amaXesha Remixes (2025) handed the album to Da Capo, Lemon & Herb, Karyendasoul, Mpho.wav, German house elder Henrik Schwarz, and amapiano’s Ntokzin whose “Sisahleleleni” rework picked up its own SAMA nomination and won Best African Pop at the Metro FMs. Outside music, the world keeps tugging: a role in the acclaimed Shaka iLembe, fashion collaborations with Thebe Magugu and Nao Serati.
What you notice at his shows is the obsession. The shows fill with people who arrived already knowing the lyrics, who have decided, without quite being able to explain why, that this music belongs to them. Mabandla calls it Xhosa soul. His audience doesn’t bother to call it anything. They just keep showing up.
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What they’re saying
The Guardian (UK) — Global Album of the Month, April 2023 “Bongeziwe Mabandla: amaXesha review – South African singer in his own lane” by Ammar Kalia. 4/5 stars.
NPR (US) — Hub of NPR’s coverage including the All Songs Considered “Heat Check” feature on “masiziyekelele” (“a gorgeous saving grace in trying times”) and SXSW 2021 picks.
American Songwriter (US) — Top Albums of 2020 iimini listed among the year’s best.
COLORS Studios (Berlin) — A COLORS SHOW performance Performance of “sisahleleleni (i)”, April 2023. Plus artist page.
Songlines (UK) — Introducing… Bongeziwe Mabandla Feature interview by Diane Coetzer in the prestigious global music magazine.
The Creative Independent — long-form interview, 2021 “On following an unconventional path” — substantive interview on identity, the “world music” label, and creative process.
Clash Magazine (UK) Feature on the “masiziyekelele” live clip from Nirox Sculpture Park.
African / global music press
OkayAfrica — amaXesha feature interview “On his latest album amaXesha, and returning to love” — definitive long-form interview around album four.
OkayAfrica — iimini interview, 2020 “A calm meditation on relationships” — pandemic-era interview.
Pan African Music (PAM) — “Standing up for your own heart” Sit-down around “Noba Bangathini”.
Afropop Worldwide — full amaXesha review Substantial critical review situating amaXesha in the Eastern Cape folk lineage. Calls it “a classic to be appreciated by your whole being.”
Afropop Worldwide — Mexico tour feature Travel-feature on the Mexico leg of the amaXesha tour — strong colour piece on the live experience and audience devotion.
South African press
Mail & Guardian — amaXesha Remixes interview, Feb 2025 “Same song, same soul, new rhythm” — in-depth piece, covering the remix project with Da Capo, Lemon & Herb, Karyendasoul, Henrik Schwarz, Mpho.wav, Ntokzin.
Mail & Guardian — amaXesha feature, June 2023 “An intimate album for the times”
Music In Africa — iimini review