Thando Zide was visibly moved by the affection surrounding her as she staged her full-album experience on Sunday, celebrating with the fans who showed up for her.
Originally delayed because of poor weather, the Ku Ngawe showcase eventually went ahead at Mount Joy in Muldersdrift.
Quick facts
- The event took place at Mount Joy, Muldersdrift, after a weather-related postponement.
- Zide’s Afro Rivera fan community attended in the hundreds.
- The audience watched a solo concert beneath umbrellas in a picnic-style setup.
- Manana joined Zide for performances of iLanga Lakho and Lungisa.
Fans from the Afro Rivera community arrived in the hundreds, each putting their own spin on the event’s dress theme for the intimate one-woman show.
The remote location required guests to travel along roughly 5km of gravel road from the main paved route. Still, the striking surroundings rewarded the journey, adding to the visual atmosphere the girlies, gays and guys had clearly paid for alongside Zide’s calming performance.
Zide first appeared in a fitted wine-coloured outfit decorated with tassels before changing into a cream two-piece. She performed much of the concert barefoot, looking completely at ease among the several hundred people gathered to see her.
The event was also captured under the tag “Ku Ngawe – @Thando Zide,” alongside the hashtag #thandozide.
Guests sat picnic-style beneath umbrellas and sang nearly every lyric back to Zide. Every so often, the singer paused to absorb the moment and take in the audience’s response.
Before beginning Imizamo, she halted the band and DJ to have several technical details refined. Zide explained that “her people” deserved nothing less than the very best.
Keeping to the promise made in the invitation, she performed the most popular selections from her latest project. The crowd rose for each song, joining her throughout and giving Zide repeated reminders of why her music resonates so strongly with them.
The evening’s special moment came when Manana joined her onstage. Their voices blended naturally as they performed iLanga Lakho and Lungisa.
Zide has described Ku Ngawe as her most intimate musical statement to date.
Her 11-song debut album explores connection in several forms: love, family, spirituality and community. Of those themes, she said the family-focused material was the most difficult to put into words.
Writing about family made her uncomfortable because she values keeping her private life private. Opening that part of herself to the music, she said, felt deeply exposing.
Msaki, Manana and Ami Faku were also present during the creation of some of the album’s songs.
Zide said the process required her to embrace both vulnerability and connection, allowing herself and her collaborators to meet, create and relate at the level the songs demanded.
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Asked what she would want a listener with no prior knowledge of her to carry away after hearing the album from beginning to end, Zide said she hopes they recognise someone willing to be guided by something greater than herself and to let that force move through her.
She added that the music belongs to the listener—to sit with, feel and live alongside.
The intimate gathering also provided a series of memorable moments for the cameras.
