While US gospel legend Juanita Bynum is to the US what Rebecca Malope is us, our own Ntokozo Mbambo (pictured) is to us, what Mary Mary is to America.
She has an unmatched vocal range, a funky approach to her sound and a beautiful soul to go with it. While she exudes a maturity beyond her years, she still comes across as one of the “cool kids” who fit in well with the non-Christian world just as well as they do in the Christian one. Much like Mary Mary, who gave us radio hits like Shackles, a gospel song that made it big outside the church, Mbambo doesn’t ooze the typical “pastor so and so” aura, yet when you listen closely you will hear how deeply rooted in Christianity her faith is. If you are a true fan you will be happy to learn that the songstress is onto something new.
“I am recording my next live project today and am really excited about that. It will be taking place at the Teatro in Montecasino,” said the singer.
After a previous successful album, it is only right that Mbambo has a follow-up offering.
“This project marks a new album. All the material that we will perform on the night will be packaged in a DVD and CD project.”
Mbambo was mum about details of the album, including its title.
“I can’t talk about the album title yet, as I would like to keep it a surprise for now,” she said. However, what she could talk about was what inspired the CD/DVD.
“My music has a lot of elements of what life may bring to anyone, whether Christian or otherwise. What I tried to get right was that the music had to be personal for me. It had to come from a personal place which I had experienced. I have learnt over the years that what comes from the heart goes straight to the heart,” she explained.
Coupled with an incredible voice like hers, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to buy this one. Also, there is a host of artists who were called in to bring their talents.
“I brought along several gospel music writing friends who all helped me write songs. All the songs that I chose for the project were those I could relate to personally because I really wanted it to be an experience, more than just a recording,” she explained.
Chances are, someone is reading this from a place far away from Joburg so they might not have a chance to catch the live show. Sad as that sounds, there is actually a solution.
“My husband (Nqubeko Mbatha) and I plan to tour across the country again. It’s the United tour and hopefully this time we’ll cover more provinces than we did last time,” she said.
Some artists shoot a live DVD and leave it at that, but with Mbambo, some of the material will be used in another format.
“I think the DVD caters for all the videos of a given album. So it makes it easier for the artist. But we are planning to shoot a music video away from this show for one of the songs off this project. We will use clips of the live shoot to mix with the music,” she explained.
Having learnt a lot from her time at Joyous Celebration, Mbambo admitted that running things was a different ball game: “We have learnt a lot since we were on our own. When we were in Joyous Celebration all we had to do was show up and sing. Now we have to manage everything throughout production. I’ve learnt about stage managers, sound engineers, video cameras and so on. All of this you only find out once you have branched out.”
“The other thing we have learnt is the importance of relationships. Don’t burn bridges as you never know what will happen tomorrow. Branching out has also increased our faith because sometimes we have had to step out without anything tangible, but with faith we succeeded,” she said.
• Tickets to the show from Computicket.