Songwriters From South Africa

"I'll do it for love. I have done a lot of gigs for free. But I need to survive, I have dependents and I have a family. We don’t do it for money. If money doesn’t come, you will suffer. But if you do it for love and make someone smile,"

"I believe if He did it for you, He will do it for me. But more than anything, it's a declaration of His unchanging love. This is my thank you to God for every season — every pain, every joy. I'm grateful. This album is that gratitude in song."

"I write from scripture, I sing scripture, whatever scripture that the Holy Spirit drops in my heart that feels relevant at the time. That's how I write and that's how we wrote almost all the songs in the album"

"I listen to Whitney Houston, Ntokozo Mbambo and Tasha Cobbs. If you listen to their ranges, they are very high. I practice with them. I love their music, I love their voice"

"God always has a way to reward you and that’s how I live. And if everything I did was for money, I wouldn’t be here today doing this interview because you would have to pay me."

"if you can't fly, you run; if you can't run, you walk; if you can't walk, you crawl; if you can't crawl, you roll. You do something"

"Even before I made money, I was an artist. As an artist, I've always done art, and I do as much as I can. But when my daughter was born, I had to make money. Then I started being a commercial artist, someone who would make money from the art."

"If you make music that people like, they'll remember you,"

"Songs are more valuable now than they were before. It used to be entire projects. If you have a really good song, you're good for at least six months"

"I think it's just luck and favour, and the audience deciding, okay, we're gonna keep you around. We like what you do, we're gonna keep you around"

"I'm doing the best that I absolutely can because my children are my world"

"All of us as parents have gone through those moments where you're like, 'I could have done better as a parent. I should have seen this. I should have done this. I should have done that.' But ultimately, it's about learning from those mistakes and making sure that we grow from them and do better for our children"

"It really does help when you discover it early because it cushions you as well. You don't fall into the temptation of thinking, 'Let me find an easier route or let me do this.' My husband and I are really trying to work on our girls, talk to them, have conversations with them about what interests they have and also identify certain gifts and talents that they have"

"I do everything in my power to make sure that when I'm with them, I'm with them a hundred percent, and they know that they have my attention. That's their time with their parents, and in that moment, I'm a parent, not Ntokozo Mbambo"

"I can hear things that regular people wouldn't normally hear. That was a light bulb for them. They set a path for me that would direct me into music and that would make my musicality grow"

"My children should never feel like, to mom, we were secondary to everything else. My girls are amazing. They are God's perfect gift to me. They make me smile in ways that are just unimaginable. They make me forget the woes of this world"

"I remember when I was about six years old, they took me to piano lessons. They set things in motion. I was in a group with my parents"

"My husband doesn't even like taking me to places like that. I love being a girl. I'm such a girly girl. So, I love those things. Nails, hair, you know, doing something that makes me feel good about myself. If for you, it means going shopping, do it"

"They didn't ask to be in the industry that we're in. They didn't ask to be popular figures, and we can't put the pressure of being in the public eye on them. It's a lot of pressure and, and unnecessary pressure"

"It doesn't mean that they're horrible parents. I think to each their own"

"First of all, let me say a disclaimer that anyone who does that, it doesn't mean that they're bad people"

"The fact that brands still want to work with brand Kwesta after 18 years? I must be doing something right"

"Without South Africa, there is no Nando’s."

"We are made special here – made different – full of flavour and fire. We have ‘this thing’ – this indescribable fire, energy and spirit, and it’s worth reminding ourselves of it. Whatever this thing is that we have, may we never lose it."

"These things only happen here and it felt like it was already written that they would be part of the story"

"I’m blatantly saying that if I was to leave the game tomorrow, any day and Touchline was the last rapper left I would be fine with how it."

"Soul music is memories, it’s everyday life, it’s easy to consume. I think it’s that the soul, the spirit, resides in Africa so soul music here could also mean the beating of a drum because that’s how we invoke our soul."

"Learn when to say no to the money, because it comes with so many complications and people who feel entitled to steering your career"

"Money draws people in and takes away agency"

"Even as I sing in my own language about a South African experience,she says, I also see it as pan-Africanist music that speaks to the Diaspora as well. I create work that is interested in connecting us and bridging gaps"

"We were trying to wrap our minds around neocolonialism and the way power corrupts"

"In spite of having a Black-led government, we quickly realized we still needed to struggle, protest, and fight"

"We were kind of swept away by this idea of freedom"

"Having grown up so un-free, there was a euphoria hearing Nelson Mandela was being freed and that we could get an ID and be a true South African with the rights of any other citizen"

"Struggle didn’t need to be a bad thing, so long as we knew what we were pushing towards"

"Music gave me a natural medium to express myself and all I was seeing"

"I was interested in something different and followed radical pathways to making art"

"I saw army tanks while walking to school ensuring us natives were ‘well behaved.’ It was impossible to miss those things"

"I have a lot of band configurations. I have a jazz band. I have the band I have been playing with for 20 years"

"You cannot want to live in other people's expectations Your only intention should be to tell your story and tell it authentically. That is the only culture an artist should have. I don't have a desire for popularity or a desire for anything that people think identify you as a successful person. My success comes from finishing my work. So, as soon as I finish my work, I feel like I have succeeded. Anything that happens after that is out of my hands"

"People associate my work with their traditions and culture and maybe there isn't enough of that in the music industry. The music industry does sometimes become a little poppy and more about the accumulation of things. My work is about memories and identity"

"All I noticed was that something would happen to people when I sang, I found that people noticed me more when I sang."

"I always knew that there were people who sang better than me, I never thought I would make it to this level."

"A love for the people, a love for country, and a love for justice. They form the basis for what the production is about using audio visual elements to stimulate imagination and explore history while moulding a new world."

"The processes are different for every album. Nothing is ever deliberate. Making art for me is one step in front of the next. You don’t begin with a full art work, you begin with one stroke and then you go. And you ask what else can I do until it’s a full picture."