Thandiswa Mazwai

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

"People associate my work with their traditions and culture and maybe there isnt 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"

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

"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"

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

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

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

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

"Money draws people in and takes away agency"

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

"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."