POETRY needs passionate performers who understand language and history, warns actor Mbuso Khoza.
The musician spoke during an intimate dinner hosted by Castle Milk Stout on Sunday night, 12 October at the Origins Centre Museum in Joburg.
Top musicians came together to honour the heartbeat of their cultures through traditional African music.
The evening served as a celebration of heritage, identity, and storytelling through song.
Artists such as Zoë Modiga, Yanga Chief, and Mbuso shared personal thoughts on what music means to them, while also offering insights into their rich cultural backgrounds.
Each conversation showed the deep connection between music and African identity, echoing the brand's ongoing commitment to preserving and celebrating African traditions.
Mbuso stressed the importance of knowing one's history and cultural background.
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"How much do we know about ourselves? Our elders over the years when there was a woman in labour and is suffering through pain, they'd go outside and cry out to their ancestors in song, and you'll hear the child crying. Do we still have those mothers?" he said.
Zoë shared what songs and music mean to her.
"Songs are just interesting things. The way that I interact with music and sound is not in a way of knowing, it's not from a place of genius, it's not from a place of understanding. I think that songs are gifts and things that land on us and fertile soil," she said.
Rapper Yanga Chief said that he's a fan of old music.
"When I started with the like of Kwesta, when we were recording music in the studio, I never realised that I was a Xhosa rapper. People often ask me how I mix Xhosa with English and I just say I never know, I'm just having a conversation and when you meet me it's the same," he said.
