Bubblegum Club

Tag: singer

  • Musician RHEA BLEK : The Goddess of Finesse

    Musician RHEA BLEK : The Goddess of Finesse

    Rhea Blek calls herself The Goddess of Finesse (aka Finessa). It’s apt because she has an impressively delicate touch and skillful use of her voice, which is pretty in line with the definition of ‘finesse’. Rhea is singer/songwriter born and bred in the city of Durban, which you can kinda tell if you’ve been paying attention to the sounds coming out of the 031 lately. Although she says she creates genreless music, Rhea is part of a growing group of brilliant young women in Durban, like Red Robyn, Nipho Hurd, and Victoria Raw, who are making incredible neo-soul, R&B and jazz influenced songs that touch the soul. And I don’t even believe in souls.

    Rhea is firmly her own woman though, and while she may be playing in similar spaces, she’s doing it completely in her own way. On the opening track of her debut EP THIIIRD WAV, ‘Terms and Conditions‘, she opens up by confidently asking if she can shoot her shot and get down to business with a fine-as-hell man, with no strings attached, terms or conditions. Although, she also admits that she wouldn’t mind a little l-o-v-e, she’s happy to just get what she wants if the fine-as-hell man is down with it.

    Track 2, ‘Clyde‘, is a take on Bonnie and Clyde, but, as Rhea explained on Facebook, “this time, instead of Clyde running around and doing the crimes and Bonnie being down for it, it was Bonnie being the boss and Clyde being a loyal lover and partner in crime. That’s why the hook says ‘ride or die, sink or fly with me’”. Apparently a friend was supposed to do a verse but “the niggas were like ‘what you wrote is too hot, the song is yours, just write for the whole song’”.

    ‘Clyde’ is actually what inspired the whole EP, or, as Rhea puts it in another Facebook post, “After that, we decided – you know what? We’re making an EP, that’s what the fuck we gon’ do!” She also explains the concept for the album in her candid post, “I thought about centering it on love and on a love story with someone that started since we were kids, that’s where ‘TEENAGE DREAMS’ comes in.”

    ‘Teenage Dreams‘ is the last track on the EP and it’s a cute love song. According to Rhea, “That song is a story of how and where the love began and how long its sustained to the present. It’s just a big thank you to the dude and appreciation for the love. And it’s called ‘TEENAGE DREAMS’ because the love is so amazing it feels like we’re teenagers in love and we’re dreaming.”

    Rhea has been racking up the gigs around Durban and has even made a few Gauteng trips of late, and now that she’s put out some music, she can’t wait to put out more. She’s actually working on a follow up EP already and will be part of the We Are One Festival in Joburg alongside the likes of Moonchild, DJ Doowap, & Nonku Phiri on the 31st of March. Make sure you look out for The Goddess of Finesse, you’ll be impressed.

  • Naye Ayla wants her music to articulate your emotions

    Naye Ayla wants her music to articulate your emotions

    “‘Dude, this is what you want to do with your life, you need to get the ball rolling!’ and literally within a month I recorded and released my first song” explains Naye Ayla of her decision to focus on music at the age of 18, although the Joburg based singer and songwriter has always been attracted to music and performance. “Since before primary school I used to sing in church, I’d go with my grandmother and I’d always be the lead singer in the children’s choir.”

    Although she has fond memories of her mother playing the likes of Sade, there was never a strong musical influence in her life. “The music thing was something that was my own”. Writing her first song in Grade 1, it developed into a favourite creative outlet of hers. “Writing’s just always been my thing. Writing poems, writing short stories, writing plays, things like that.“

    Having released two EPs thus far, the most recent being Exi(s)t which featured YoungstaCPT as well as her Culture Cartel band mate, Una Rams, she is currently working on her follow up EP, although a single in collaboration with Langa Mavuso and Una Rams is to be released soon. “The cool thing about the song is that it has all three of our vibes. That’s another thing I want to do in music, I don’t want to become a different person, because I’m doing another person’s vibe. But we can create a song that gives people three different feelings, that puts people in three different spaces and to me that was the most exciting part.”

    In comparison to Exi(s)t she feels her upcoming release is a lot lighter. “I feel like my transition into music made me go through a lot of things in my own mind that made me see things in a darker perspective, not like emo, just very honest and very raw. Now I’m in a lighter place, I’m in a more celebratory place and even the introspection isn’t very dark. So I think it’s a lot more relatable and it’s a bit more fun.”

    Apart from the upcoming EP, Naye’s current projects include a video for last year’s single ‘Waves’ and a residency at Hard Rock Cafe Sandton starting in mid-March, and a performance at the We Are One festival, something she wants to do more of. “I want to be on world stages, like festivals. I really enjoy the festival feel. Oppikoppi, Rocking the Daisies, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Red Bull Stages, that kind of vibe. I really like things that make you share spaces with artists that are completely different from you.”

    When it comes to her music, Naye Ayla hopes that she can connect with her listeners and help them articulate things they otherwise couldn’t. “I’ve always said that people don’t have to understand what I’m saying but if it evokes some kind of feeling, that’s all I want. I wanna speak for people who don’t know how to put their thoughts together. I’ve listened to so much music where I’m just like ‘aw that’s exactly what I wanted to say that’s what I’ve been trying to say my whole life’ and I couldn’t get it together and someone else did. I want to be able to do that, even if it’s just one person. Then my job is done.”

  • Langa Mavuso: seeping into the music industry with thick emotion

    Langa Mavuso: seeping into the music industry with thick emotion

    “Sometimes I sound like gravel and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream”, said the high priestess of Soul, Nina Simone.

    Like Miss Simone, Langa Mavuso describes his voice as possessing the capabilities of being both flawed, husky, and coarse as well as rich, sweet, and alluring.

    When I first pressed play, the smoothness of the guitar put me at great ease. Langa’s voice then boldly complemented the tempo set by the electric flex of the cords. There is a distinct masterfulness that Langa has over his voice. Every note is used to delicately sift through the song thick with emotion. Towards the end, I had been coaxed into singing along. I immediately listened to every other song, watched every documented live performance and experienced great satisfaction by the online feedback; I was not the only one with the knowledge of this gifted black boy.

    While Langa was singing along to Whitney Houston at the age of eight, Phumeza Mdabe muted Whitney so he could hear his voice. “I was like, ‘Shit, I’m hitting those notes’,” Langa exclaimed. After realising the magnitude of his gift, a significantly high pitched voice at the time, Langa kept it a secret because of juvenile heteronormative gender constraints that say girls should have high-pitched voices and boys the polar opposite. “I’m a boy who can sing like a girl, it felt embarrassing, especially at that time, when you’re in primary school…you just want to fit in with everyone.” Thanks be to the girl who heard Langa singing in the bathroom and reported back to their teacher, who insisted Langa share his voice with the entire class.

    Today Langa is a singer, songwriter and performer. He has appeared on television, featured on radio, had various live performances, released a noteworthy EP called Liminal Sketches and more recently a collaborative EP with Red Bull Studios in Cape Town called Home.

    However the route from childhood talent to a budding career was meandering. In high school, Langa studied contemporary music at the National School of the Arts (NSA) with his specialisation instruments being voice and piano. During his time at NSA, Langa’s interests branched out and he wanted to be a diplomat. So Politics, Economics and Mandarin were some of the subjects he studied at Rhodes University. After two months, Langa called begging his mother, who had been relieved that all musical aspirations had subsided, to transfer to study music at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Langa’s mother finally agreed but in his third year at UCT Langa suffered spiritually and mentally and came back home to Johannesburg. Here, Langa centred himself. He got a job as a writer and another as a content producer and social media manager. Then the faint whisper of his purpose began again and he responded accordingly. Langa left his job, finished music he had been writing for years and pursued his calling.

    “I don’t think the music ever stopped in every instance where I was trying to run away from it. It was there but I was just trying not to make it the light of my life, y’know? But eventually, it was just like, you know this is the one thing you can do without anyone having to wake you up in the morning, without a pay cheque, you’ll do it, so that’s how it just happened, it was a natural progression,” Langa explained.

    Nevertheless, the formal training that Langa went through enhanced how he brilliantly articulates and translates his thoughts, ideas and emotions into a three minute track. Langa writes about love in its different phases. In his first EP, he explored loss and heartbreak and in the other, Langa sings about infidelity.

    “I’ve never had someone come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I don’t like your music’”. Based on observation and personal encounters, Langa believes that his music resonates with different generations. The manner in which Langa utilises his voice and pairs it with either jazzy rhythms or an electronic beat is skilful and exciting. However, Langa is certain that he does not comfortably fit into the South African music industry.

    “I think I don’t fit in 100% but people appreciate the talent and they see something in it so there is an embrace of some sort but there are still people who are sort of, not reluctant, but like not too sure. It’s like the sound is a little too international. It sounds like very British Soul but then there is this African guitar and then there is this and that, which sort of brings you back to home and then you’re singing in Zulu, under this crazy electro beat by Spoek (Mathambo), like what is this?”

    Yrsa Daley-Ward wrote, “If you have to fold to fit in, it ain’t right.” Subsequently, Langa has found that a space is opening up for him to be incorporated with help from mainstream music producers, like Black Coffee and Tweezy. “I’m not trying to fit in. I’m not interested in fitting in. I think we’re living in a creative time where we can be whatever we want to be and sort of teach people to assimilate into the ideas that we have.”

    Langa has a cognisance of the power of human emotion. It is something that we innately share and probably why his music has a familiar comforting sweetness and light.

    After the collaborative projects on the way and multiple singles Langa is working on, he hopes to be a household name when he releases his debut album a year from now. For now stay on Langa’s Soundcloud page.

  • Red Robyn – The Sweet-voiced Songbird from Wentworth

    Birders of Durban feel shame no more. No longer shall Durban be known as the city with the world’s most annoying bird, the Indian Mynah, but instead, as the city that produced the songbird Red Robyn. Okay, so, Red Robyn is not red, or a Robin, or a bird at all. Obviously, why would I be telling you about an actual bird? Sorry Durban birders, you still have nothing to be proud of.  She is a songbird, though, or a songstress, I should say, and one you wouldn’t mind hearing at the start of each day. Or during the day. Or at night even. Like, literally any time is good.

    What are you doing right now? Here, listen to this…

    How nice was that? How playfully and succinctly does she just cut down the immature boy the song is aimed at. “I’m too old to play with toys, flowers in my hair, ain’t got time for do or dare, oh the shit you’re giving me is just too much and I don’t care, boy”. It would be brutal if it wasn’t wrapped in such vocal sweetness.

    The 21-year-old from Wentworth has a way with words and deftly uses cadence to back them up. This could be because of her background studying drama and music at UKZN, but Red Robyn, real name Ashleigh de Gee, has been musical her whole life. She’s been singing since she was a kid in the choir at church and with both her mother and father being musicians and her grandfather being in a band when he was younger, it’s safe to say that music is in her family.

    The singer is not just a singer but an academic too. She’s currently working on a research paper in deconstructing the coloured identity. Well, she’s currently taking a break until next semester, with this semester being spent on making music. I got to interview Red Robyn a few months ago but it never got published. In our chat, she explained to me what lead her to her topic,“For me, it came from a point of searching for my own identity. People would always ask me, especially in high school, “What are you?” I feel like that such a weird question to ask someone, “What are you?” It came from my own sort of searching within myself to try and find my own identity.”

    I followed up asking her what was the most interesting thing she’d come across in her research? She told me, “The thing that fascinates me is that this generation of coloured people is starting to ask questions. For a long time, I think that coloured people have just accepted the way things are and there’s a generation that’s come out now who are asking questions about their heritage, and they want to know more and do better than the last generation. They want to succeed. There’s a lot of good coming out of being displaced. Just claiming our heritage and claiming our culture.”

    As a white dude, I obviously don’t really know anything about coloured identity. I know that representation matters and that the work that Red Robyn is doing, both on-stage and off, is important. With coloured Cape Town artists like Youngsta, Patty Munroe, Dope Saint Jude and Isaac Mutant getting well-deserved national and international recognition, it’s time for young, fresh coloured artists from Durban to also get some shine.

    Red Robyn will no-doubt get the recognition she deserves soon as she’s fast making herself the queen of collaboration in Durban. The groovy track you heard above is with shit-hot producer MISSU (I interviewed him for Noisey if you’re interested), and they recently teamed up again, along with trip-hop producer Tre Flips, on the deeply romantic and heartbreaking ‘Colours’. Last week she dropped a soulful number called Taekwon with her boyfriend and bandmate in the phenomenal jazz collective Blvck Crystals, Jaedon Daniel. You can hear it below. Her soundcloud is littered with cross-genre collaborations, and last night she let her Facebook fans know that she and Jaedon will be putting out a mixtape, and that she’ll be dropping collabs with Skata, Taylor Made, Easy Freak and Joe Music soon.

    I recently wrote that Red Robyn and Jaedon Daniel are part of a new wave of “young, independent, forward-thinking Durban musicians building themselves, and each other, through collabs with like-minded individuals.” But more than that, I think Red Robyn could be one of the prominent faces of this new wave. I guess time will tell, but for now, keep an eye and an ear out for the sweet-voiced songbird from Wentworth.