Valencia Govindasamy
Durban musician Nandi Mngoma, aka Nandi, is set to unleash her musical side with her latest eponymous 12-track album.
Nandi, 24, is one of the sweetest people and has a lot going for her. Besides making music, she is also involved in acting and presenting and even has a national television show that will soon be coming to our screens.
Tonight caught up with her to get the lowdown on what her music represents and what people can expect from her album.
“My music is mostly house, but it’s a combination of all sub-genres within house such as Afrosoul, jazz, traditional house, electronic and so on. It was really like being a kid in a candy store and having an array of genres which people could relate to and enjoy. I feel so fortunate to be scouted by Universal Records and to have the opportunity to do what I love so I feel very blessed. In terms of my album, it’s about the beginning of a beautiful journey.”
For Nandi, it’s been a long road in the music industry. She started her career at the tender age of 14 when she was approached to perform alongside R&B singer Jae.
She elaborated: “Ten years ago, I had an interview with the Daily News for a performance I was doing at the Wavehouse. I was going to be an opening act. And now I’m 24, so it’s something I’ve been doing pretty much all my life and it’s my passion.”
Something Nandi is really proud of is her involvement in the hit house single Tonight by DJ Franky from Soul Candi, on which she featured as the vocalist.
For her that experience was “absolutely awesome. More so, because I think we weren’t necessarily trying to make a big hit, we were just making good music. That was our intention. It was a feel-good track at the time, you get your love tracks and we wanted it to reach out to people.
“What’s great is that we got support from DJ Fresh and he also features in the video.
“And then Euphonik made a remix of the song because he loved it. On YouTube that video got 27 000 views and we always get comments about it from people all over the world. So it was an amazing experience.”
Her album is diverse and has a feel-good beat to it with meaningful lyrics that are fresh, with most of the material written by Nandi herself.
A track that stands out is New Beginning, which contains elements of jazz, house and Afrosoul.
Touching other peoples lives through her music is the greatest gift for Nandi: “Just pushing yourself in any industry. I lived both the corporate and entertainment industries and there’s no difference, really. It’s all about being focused and not getting caught up in anything else. Having a positive impact on people is always amazing and I do enjoy that.”