more from
Komos records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

NGIWU SHWABADA

by Sibusile Xaba

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €8 EUR  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Full album except PHEFUMULA that only features on the Double Vinyl version.

    Includes unlimited streaming of NGIWU SHWABADA via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    4 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      €12 EUR or more 

     

  • Limited Edition Double Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Double lp vinyl featuring the following songs :
    Intro, Abakholwanga, Uqondile, Mvelo, Ngiwu Shwabada, Tribute to Bafo, Afrikan, Makwande Lwande, Uyahlupha and PHEFUMULA feat. Shabaka Hutchings.

    Includes unlimited streaming of NGIWU SHWABADA via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
INTRO 01:50
2.
ELIHLE 08:10
3.
UMNDENI 03:32
4.
UQONDILE 08:50
5.
MVELO 06:19
6.
7.
AFRIKA 01:54
8.
UYAHLUPHA 07:30
9.
10.
11.
12.

about

Charismatic guitar savant Sibusile Xaba reframes maskandi and the avant garde into his own humanist manifesto.

With a vocal style that is part dreamscaping and part ancestral invocation, Xaba divines as opposed to plainly singing. Combined with a guitar style that is rooted in expressive picking, Xaba's music shatters the confines of genre, taking only the fundamentals from mentors such as Madala Kunene and Dr Philip Tabane and imbuing these with a mythology and improvisational intensity all of his own. The song TRIBUTE TO BAFO that features on this new record is an homage to Madala "Bafo" Kunene.

Maskandi, malombo, the desert blues and jazz all figure in Sibusile Xaba's expansive vocabulary, albeit through a magnetic individual filter.

After the acclaimed release of ‘Opened Letter to Adoniah’ in 2017, Sibusile’s second album NGIWU SHWABADA was recorded in one continuous take at Studio Pigalle in Paris, France, in May 2019. It features his long-time musical companion Naftali on additional vocals.

Sibusile explains the philosophy behind this second album NGIWU SHWABADA ( I am of SHWABADA – a spiritual lineage) : ‘The record is a dedication to my ancestors for all the love, blessings and guidance they continue to share.These songs are conversations I have had with them, transmitted into songs to be shared with mankind. The elements of the record are waters & the great feminine spirit.’

To close the album, London saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings joins Sibusile for a purely improvised 18 minute musical trip recorded that same day. ‘Phefumula is a journey of still minds, with a focus on the importance and simplicity of breathing. After a practical breathing session Shabaka & I were granted time to explore worlds and receive messages to be shared - we were gracefully granted to be vessels who receive.’

credits

released February 14, 2020

Sibusile Xaba : guitar & vocals
Kholofelo 'Naftali' Mphago : vocals
Shabaka Hutchings : tenor saxophone on PHEFUMULA

Recorded in one continuous take on May 31st at Studio Pigalle in Paris France by Felix Remy. Mixed by Felix Rémy at Studio Pigalle

Mastering by Frank Merritt at The Carvery

A&R Antoine Rajon

cover artwork by Manyaku Mashilo

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Sibusile Xaba Pretoria, South Africa

Sibusile Xaba carries forth the Maskandi / Mbaqanga tradition of the KwaZulu Natal midlands, from where he originates. Steeped in the lineage of Zulu guitar giant Madala Kunene (Sibusile’s first mentor) & warrior chants of vocal master, Shaluza Max, he not only owns these influences, but pushes the envelope as only a maestro with a keen ear for the future does. ... more

contact / help

Contact Sibusile Xaba

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Sibusile Xaba, you may also like: