Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
thandiswa mazwailatest news & developments
Loving memory: Maria McCloy was someone who made Johannesburg feel possible. Someone who gathered people across class, art, music, fashion and politics and convinced them that beauty, style and radical care belonged together.
ABBEY LINCOLN

Maria McCloy made Johannesburg feel possible

Friends, creatives and a city in mourning gathered to celebrate the woman who helped shape how Johannesburg saw itself after 1994.

  • Lesego Chepape
7 min read
Maria McCloy died of heart failure in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
ARTS AND CULTURE

Cultural pioneer Maria McCloy dies at 50

Maria McCloy helped define post-apartheid urban culture through fashion, media, music and an uncompromising commitment to South Africa’s creative spirit

  • Lesego Chepape
4 min read
Legendary Beninese musician Angélique Kidjo will be among the headliners of the 27th Standard Bank Joy of Jazz music festival. Photo: File
AFRICAN MUSIC FESTIVALS

Standard Bank Joy of Jazz reveals 2026 line-up as festival leans into legacy

From Angélique Kidjo to Thandiswa Mazwai, this year’s Joy of Jazz programme connects legacy acts with emerging voices across four curated stages

  • Kibo Ngowi
4 min read
DJ KENZHERO

Nomsa Mazwai’s sober fest reimagines how we celebrate

A Freedom Day weekend gathering at the Soweto Theatre, where families are invited to experience music, food and wellness, fully present and fully sober

  • Lesego Chepape
6 min read
Soul food: Out of necessity Gabi Motuba sings, she swings black life and her conduction is continuously marshalling an imminent feeling of self-sovereignty. Photo: Standard Bank
ABBEY LINCOLN

Gabi Motuba and the sound of sacred resistance

Gabi Motuba’s music stretches beyond jazz, transforming grief, memory and resistance into a spiritual sonic language rooted in black life and liberation

  • Thabang Monoa
7 min read
First time: Montreux arrives in Franschhoek Friday to Sunday, 27 to 29 March. The line-up reads like a passport of musical brilliance and includes home-grown talent Thandiswa Mazwai
ARTS AND CULTURE

Montreux Jazz Festival makes African debut in Franschhoek

A legendary Swiss festival meets the Cape Winelands as Montreux launches its first African edition in Franschhoek with global stars and jazz visionaries

  • Marlan Padayachee
7 min read
Stogie T has been a curator with unusual instincts. On aNomy, Stogie T turns history, faith and inherited trauma into a portrait of a country suspended between collapse and renewal.
A REECE

Stogie T: ‘It’s all broken’

Stogie T’s aNomy captures the tension, cynicism and spiritual searching of life in South Africa, weaving history, grief and hope into vivid storytelling

  • Sabelo Mkhabela
9 min read
One in a long line: Songbird Thandiswa Mazwai says she’s merely a conduit in the tradition of using their voices that was started by her forebears and will continue into posterity. Her upcoming Sankofa Music Fest will showcase this tradition. Photo: Supplied
AFRICAN DRUMMING

Thandiswa Mazwai: Still speaking for future generations

Thandiswa Mazwai celebrates 50 years and 30 years in music with the Sankofa Heritage Festival, blending heritage, innovation, and generational continuity

  • Kibo Ngowi
8 min read
Take flight: The Wonderboom Airshow on Friday, promises stunts, formation flying, and tactical manoeuvres. Photo: Supplied
AIRLINK

Diary: Wonderboom Airshow; Music and Lifestyle Expo; Mandisi Dyantyis in Cape Town

Your essential dose of art and culture

  • Kibo Ngowi
  • Busi Lethole
2 min read
Sculpture under the sun: A talk around Angus Taylor’s Morphic Resonance was held during the BMW Art Generation Vol III at Nirox Sculpture Park last weekend. Photo: BMW Group South Africa
ART AND CULTURE TRENDS

A day of art, vibes and black joy

BMW Art Generation fused music, fashion and community ambiance in an event that outshone traditional notions of art

  • Thembeka Heidi Sincuba
6 min read
Township child: Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse will perform at BMW Art Generation Vol III on 30 August at the Nirox Sculpture Park in Johannesburg. Photo: Arthur Dlamini
BMW ART GENERATION

Hotstix, hot legacy

From Burn Out to BMW Art Generation, Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse remains a cultural giant shaping South Africa’s sound and spirit.

  • Thembeka Heidi Sincuba
8 min read
Nomsa Mazwai and Rapsody in studio. Photos: Courtesy of Nomsa Mazwai
9TH WONDER

Nomisupasta and Rapsody: The collab that took 13 years

When Rapsody finally came to South Africa to record her latest album, something deeply meaningful and long-awaited took shape.

  • Kibo Ngowi
5 min read
Thandiswa Mazwai returns to the stage for an intimate, soul-stirring performance at The Lyric Theatre. (Photo supplied)
AFROHOUSE

Diary: National Arts Festival, Thandiswa live at the Lyric, Sisonke Afrohouse

Festival returns with fresh fire and fearless talent For 11 days this winter, Makhanda becomes the beating heart of South African creativity and artistic innovation as the…

  • Kibo Ngowi
  • Busi Lethole
2 min read
Taking off: Alice Viskat’s Flughafen is playing in Scotland.
BELEDE

Diary: 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Fête de la Musique returns to Victoria Yards and Thandiswa Mazwai brings Belede and Sankofa to The Lyric Theatre

Your essential dose of art and culture

  • Lesego Chepape
2 min read
Transporting voice: Thandiswa Mazwai performs at the 25th Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival, which was held in Sandton, Joburg, in September. Photo: Oupa Bopape/Getty Images
FRANTZ FANON

Thandiswa Mazwai’s technologies of resistance

Bringing together the traditional and the modern, Thandiswa Mazwai is taking her new album Sankofa to the world

  • Fezokuhle Mthonti
9 min read
Striking: Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Bolero was choreographed by Gregory Maqoma.
AFRICAN ART

Diary: Requiem of Ravel’s Bolero, BMW Art Generation, live scores to silent films

Your essential dose of art and culture

  • Lesego Chepape
2 min read
Khwezi Vika, Marketing Manager at Castle Milk Stout.
AFRICAN CULTURE

Rediscover the rhythms of traditional songs with Castle Milk Stout’s Afrikaraoke

It’s a way to preserve our heritage, celebrate and teach youngsters the lyrics of our sacred songs

  • Castle Milk Stout
3 min read
Singer: Simphiwe Dana will perform at Divas in Concert.
AMAXELEGU

Diary: Divas in Concert usher in women’s month, The Apartheid Killer on BBC, Amaxelegu by Qondiswa James will run at the Market Theatre

Your essential dose of art and culture

  • Lesego Chepape
2 min read
Thandiswa Mazwai. Photos by Nick Boulton and Charles Leonard
AFRICAN ARTISTS

Thandiswa Mazwai on Sankofa and political currents in South Africa

Experience the soul-stirring melodies of Thandiswa Mazwai’s new album ‘Sankofa’, a captivating journey through South African music and culture

  • Charles Leonard
14 min read
Standby: An album of unreleased music by the late Jamaican reggae musician Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is due out soon. (Paul Bergen/Redferns)
EMAHOY TSEGUE MARYAM GUEBROU

Starting the year on the right note

Setting my musical intentions for 2024, I select four upcoming albums that made my heart race

  • Charles Leonard
8 min read