Singers with Unique Voices: Vusi Mahlasela (The Unique Voices Club #12)

Every Friday, I write a post about singers with unique voices not commonly heard in mainstream music in an effort to educate emerging artists and music lovers and inspire them to embrace their own quirks. This week I'm writing on Vusi Mahlasela.

Photo by Eric Charlton

At last, a Unique Voices Club post about a South African artist! And there'll be more to come. My family bought two of Vusi Mahlasela's albums, Miyela Afrika and Silang Mabele (both of which are roughly the same age as me) after a missions trip to South Africa in the early 2000s. Before the call to move there for ten years was even imminent, I vividly remember dancing to those albums and trying to memorize lyrics in languages I obviously couldn't wrap my early childhood tongue around. Mostly because this was back in the days of CDs and so I played whatever suited my fancy from an eclectic assortment of jazz and gospel. But this guy stands out in my memory outside of Hugh Masekela's Louis Armstrong growl.

You see, South African music has totally different feel to American music. Mostly instrumentally because of instruments that you don't commonly find in America. And probably influenced by other Afrobeats such as kwaito and house, so the improvisation sounds a lot more complex and intricate. I'm listening to the instrumental piece "A Proud People" off the Miyela Afrika album that has an acoustic guitar playing the bulk of the melody, and it reminds me of a compilation album from 1996 called Jazz Offerings from South Africa that I listened to just as religiously as the Vusi albums. It just takes me right back to all the nights I entertained my babysitters with my dances. I guess it was preparation for what life would be like later.

But his musicianship is not the sole reason why I was in awe of him as a child. Generally described as "African folk" and dubbed "The Voice of South Africa," Vusi Mahlasela's tunes have been a staple of the anti-apartheid movement, speaking on topics such as freedom, forgiveness and reconciliation. Folk music speaks the truth of the world, a motion I've shared many times before on this blog. And just as much as his music forces you to think with its bare-boned composition and unified African spirit in the form of eleven offical spoken languages, his singing voice, pure and unaffected, seamlessly weaves through a quiet subtlety and a high falsetto that almost transcends the countertenor vocal range. His song "Afrika Borwa" is a great example of this:

But perhaps his most well-known song, "Weeping," a cover of the anti-apartheid protest song by Bright Blue (and written by Dan Heymann, a disgruntled White South African soldier), it really showcases his mission to use art as a form of vehicle to promote social justice. Everyone in South Africa knows that song. It even stealthily incorporates the "Nkosi Sikelel'iAfrika" part of the national anthem that was illegal at the time. Well, I figure that everyone that was alive in the 80s knows that song. I had friends my age that knew Beyonce but didn't even know Beatenberg, a kwaito-influenced band in their own country. Which is where I saw the gap in educating listeners.

Vusi Mahlasela has released a total of fifteen albums with the latest one being in 2023 on South African indie label Gallo Records. His song "When You Come Back" (taken from his debut album of the same name) was used for the UK broadcast of the 2010 FIFA World Cup that unified all of South Africa for some patriotic, crime-free months. Similar to Tracy Chapman, he was the voice of the revolution in the 1980s. And he still continues to use his art to promote the unity that South Africa accomplished after the dismantling of apartheid but also urging the world to achieve the same thing (if you're in America and reading this, you know). You can read more on his latest album, Umoya (that also incorporates Swahili!), and Shebeen Queen, his tribute to township music, here on his website.

So that is all for this week in the Unique Voices Club. If you want to help support the education of listeners and the inspiration for unconventional emerging artists, you can join my Patreon here for only $7 (plus if you want to share artists that you want to read about here, that's another good reason to join!). Or if you just want to buy me a coffee, that's cool too.

Don't forget to catch up on all the artists I've written about in The Unique Voices Club, and subscribe at the bottom of the page to know when I post!

Stay educated,

Alexia