Simphiwe Dana

Simphiwe Dana ( born 1980 in Butterworth, Transkei ) is a South African singer. Having grown up with the traditional music of her homeland, she combines in her oeuvre African pop, hip - hop, soul, gospel and jazz. In South Africa, it is one of the last few years the best-known stars, in Europe it is mainly in the area of ​​so-called world music known.

Dana he composed his songs their own, in which she sings mainly in isiXhosa, only occasionally in English. As musical role models are called, among other things, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan and Dorothy Masuka. In their songs they come back to the history of blacks, especially in South Africa, apart, sings about the importance of their own traditions and the quest for freedom and self-determination, particularly of women.

Life and Music

Simphiwe Dana belongs to the people of the Xhosa. She grew up as the oldest of four siblings in small towns of the Homelands Transkeis as Butterworth and Lusikisiki, in modest circumstances on. To sing it began as a little girl about how she talks when she took early in the morning with a bucket of water from a nearby river while singing traditional songs. Her voice, as she says, she has of her mother. About her father, a preacher, she came to the church choral music. Dana attended the Vela Private School in Umtata, the former capital of the Transkei, which she completed in 1997. She then studied at the Port Elizabeth Technikon and graphic design at Wits Technikon in Johannesburg Information Technology.

In 2002 she moved to Johannesburg, where she first appeared as a singer in smaller clubs at open mic sessions and eventually attracted the attention of music promoters in coming. During the production of her first album, she was pregnant and so she dedicated her debut album Zandisile (English as: "Those who her dream fulfilled" ) in 2004, her daughter Zazi. The album reached the leap into some jazz and world music charts in South Africa platinum status and in Europe. She has performed at many major music festivals in South Africa, including Arts Alive, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival. In the South African Music Awards 2005 Zandisile was awarded " Best Jazz Vocal Album" and Dana as " Best Newcomer ".

In September 2005, pregnant at the time with her second child, she suffered on the way to a gig in a serious car accident. As a result, she interrupted her stage work in order to recover, brought a son into the world and devoted himself for some time entirely to her family.

A milestone was her guest appearance at a concert Angelique Kidjos in the Johannesburg Music Hall on July 23, 2006. Audiences and critics took the new singer on enthusiastic and some of them felt at Stars of the South African music such as Miriam Makeba and Dorothy Masuka reminds in their younger years.

In 2006 they released their second album, The One Love Movement On Bantu Biko Street, for which she was honored at the 13th South African Music Awards on April 14, 2007, four times ( " Best Album Of The Year ", " Best Female Solo Artist", " Best Contemporary Jazz "," Best Jazz Vocal Album ").

Toured Dana date twice to Europe, where she performed as during the Football World Cup 2006 at One World Day in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and the AVO Session Basel and one more month tour in 2007 ( Germany, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria ) on July 10, graduated with an open-air concert at the Jazz Fest Wien in the town square.

In the film Themba, which premiered and awarded in 2010 at the Berlin Film Festival, Dana can be seen in a leading role. She plays the mother of the young title character who becomes infected as well as her son with AIDS.

Awards

  • Platinum for Zandisile
  • South African Music Awards 2005: "Best Jazz Vocal Album" and " Best Newcomer "
  • Avo Session Basel 2006: " Arising Star Award "
  • South African Music Awards 2007: " Best Album Of The Year ", " Best Female Solo Artist", " Best Contemporary Jazz " and "Best Jazz Vocal Album "

Discography

  • 2004: Zandisile
  • 2006: The One Love Movement On Bantu Biko Street
  • 2010: Kulture Noir

Compilations

  • 2007: South Africa presents: Women with a Voice
The Complete Works Gospel music Xhosa language Xhosa people Bantustan Mthatha Angélique Kidjo Rathaus, Vienna Integrated Authority File
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