During the second week of August South Africa will celebrate the diversity and brilliance of women in the arts with the South African Women’s Arts Festival in Durban. One of the highlights of the festival will be a gala concert on Women’s Day (August 9) featuring Izingane Zoma, Vicky Sampson and Lebo Mathosa.
Listening to Mathosa is like savouring the purr of a kitten. Her hoarse alto, a driving force on stage, underlines her shyness off it. It fluctuates remarkably when she tries to reflect on her seven years in the spotlight, and when showered with praise or flattery — something she should be used to by now — she looks away amid piercing bursts of laughter.
She firmly believes the story we have seen unfold since she burst on to the scene with Boom Shaka in 1994 began long before that. When she talks of her childhood in Daveyton on the East Rand, she paints a montage that includes images of innocence and naughtiness.
There were times when she would have to be put on a table on a stage to sing in church. She also remembers a period of sneaking out of boarding school in downtown Johannesburg to perform as a dancer at the Arena nightclub. That is where she was spotted and became a member of Boom Shaka.
That determination and notoriety have combined to produce what she describes as a total package comprising a matured alto and a risqué image. “I think people like both sides of my image. You cannot separate the two,” she purrs.
Perhaps that explains why, ahead of this year’s Sama awards where she was nominated for three awards for her debut album Dreams, the speculation was not about which award she would win but rather what she would wear. She scooped the best dance album and best dance single.
Boom Shaka have now released a seventh anniversary “best of” album. “When I look at the album, I realise how much has been done in my time,” she says. The album is designed to keep the group on people’s lips and features some of their biggest hits.
The album also confirms Mathosa’s decisive influence on the group’s sound. Her vocals dominate tracks ranging from Siyakhala in 1994 to Free in 1998.
That is the vocal potency that spurred her on to release an overdue solo debut in 2000. Her star continues to rise.
Her trip to Durban next month will not be the first in an easterly direction in recent times. In June she broke new ground by attempting to break into the Asian market when she enjoyed a hectic whistle-stop tour to Malaysia.
“I did not feel like I was away from home in a strange place. The people there are just warm,” she says of the beleaguered Asian tiger. She was fêted like royalty and in turn performed for royalty when the queen of Malaysia attended her album launch.
She then scaled the heights of human architectural endeavour when she performed at the tallest building in the world, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur. Her album has been repackaged and released in Malaysia as Celebrate.
Throughout her career she has contributed lyrics to Boom Shaka’s and her own hits.
“[Writing lyrics] happens when you listen to a lot of music,” she says. “Through my lyrics I try to capture what I see around me. They are not necessarily [autobiographical],” she continues.
But when was the first time she wrote lyrics? “As a seven-year-old in Sunday school,” she says. Actually, I meant for a recording. “Oh, that was with a failed group called 200 IQ, during the years when I sneaked out of boarding school,” she corrects herself in a manner that suggests failure all those years ago never really fazed, let alone crushed, her. We are grateful for that.
We are also grateful that she has found time to hone her acting talent with a distinct cameo role in Generations. The makers of the soapie went for her tomboyish side. Her performance started out as stuttering and barely adequate but got more relaxed and convincing as she warmed to the cameras.
An attempt to point out that she is an actress, a performer, a songwriter, a producer and choreographer is dismissed with an overwhelming blush and an admission that “actually, I wish I could acquire formal training in acting and singing. But it is not too late for that.” It’s a determination from her childhood.
She constantly finds herself being touted as the next Brenda Fassie for her undoubted talent and tendency to invite controversy — such as when she was accused of being involved in a scuffle with a TV presenter over a man. She flatly denies the allegation.
More recently she is reported to have stormed out of a rehearsal for a play due to be staged at the Grahamstown Arts Festival.
She points out the producers did not have a concrete role for her but rather intended to use her as a drawcard. Furious, she pulled a prima donna number and stormed out.
Go east, young girl.
The South African Women’s Arts Festival takes place at the Playhouse entertainment complex from August 8 to 12 and showcases cabaret, drama, craft, fine art, dance and poetry. A conference on women in the arts will take place on August 9. Festival hotline: (031) 369 9444 or visit www.playhousecompany.com