South Africa’s leading Afro-soul jazz singer Simphiwe Dana chats with AfriPOP! as she rounds off a 6-day autumn tour of the UK.
Which international audiences have you enjoyed playing for the most?
I generally enjoy playing for an attentive audience anywhere.
You were involved in the Not In Our Lifetime campaign against Xenophobia in South Africa, do you feel like there has been a change in South Africa and the hearts of our people since then?
I would hope most importantly that since the xenophobia attacks the government has realised how desperate people are for a better life. I recently read that South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. The frustration led them to attack the weak and easily accessible among them. Service delivery protests are on the rise now because people have finally realised that it is their government failing them not Afrikans from other countries. That said the attacks in South Africa show that there’s still a lot of self hate amongst my people because only Africans were attacked and there’s a lot of foreigners in South Africa who are from other races; they were not attacked. We as artists have our work cut out for us, preaching self knowledge and self love.
You once wrote a Facebook note about Afrikaans not being an African language? What were your reasons for this and what was the general response to it?
As an African who speaks an African language I do not recognize anything African in the language. Yet it is being elevated over our languages and is being flaunted as an African language that our kids have to learn if they want to study in these good schools. Someone even wrote me that I must take my child to the township if I want them to learn an African language. Which to me proved that we do not take pride in who we are and that colonialism still exists. It created a wild debate and of course turned ugly in part. I’ve never seen such passionate responses to what I write.
What would you say are the most exciting developments on South Africa’s young music scene right now?
The recession has put a damper on a lot of things, but I do know that there’s a lot of young people who are cooking something. 2010 should be quite colorful. Blk Jks, Tumi and The Volume, Thandiswa, Lira, Zamajobe, Mpande Core, Freshlyground, Camagwini, Siphokazi, Siya, Jebba, MXO.
What are you looking forward to the most about FIFA World Cup 2010?
The patriotism it might bring back to the people of South Africa and the pride that will be awakened in all of Africa.
