A Platform for Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
Nongoma
Artist
South Africa
   
ABOUT
Nongoma was born under the influence of song to musician parents in the heart of Hamburg, Germany. Given the nature of her name, which translates to "Mother of Song" in Zulu, her destiny was written in the stars with the ink of poetic irony. From the tender age of 3 years old, while hearing her dad tune his bass guitar like a sign from a higher energy, she realized that she and music were meant to be. Growing up between Africa and Europe, many dynamics of that experience continued igniting a fire and deeper passion for music. In the year 2000, she, her sisters, and childhood friends formed a girl group by the name of Day By Day, inspired by her dad. It is in this period of her life where she learned the art of composing, arranging, and songwriting through the guidance of her father, up until they disbanded and her family moved from Switzerland to South Africa in 2006, where she went to complete her high school, majoring in music at the National School of the Arts.

Throughout the rest of her high school years, she continued writing and also became a part of a school band formed by her fellow music classmates called Atonal, where they continued to perform at various events until Matriculation in 2007. She moved back to Switzerland at the end of 2008 and worked with a well-known producer named Manguzzh on one of his projects, recording a 14-track album. Which, unfortunately, due to label conflicts, didn't get released, but when she came back to South Africa in 2009, she released two songs from that album, which received high accolades and heavy rotation on stations such as Metro FM, YFM, Ukhozi FM, and many more. She went to study sound engineering from 2010 until 2012 and took a short hiatus until the beginning of 2013, where she started working on her first EP "In The Mirror." 2013 saw her working on other different projects too, with artists such as Nothende, well-known jazz bassist Musa Manzini, reggae outfit The Rudimentals, and ILL Skillz, not to mention Swiss Hip Hop star Steff La Cheff and Dodo of Doppelgänger fame, and Portuguese producer Raez.

Her EP "In The Mirror" was released in early 2014 as a free download online. 2014 sees Nongoma growing her profile with projects including her follow-up to "In The Mirror," as well as collaborations with South African future Hip Hop pioneer Spoek Mathambo and many more. She is currently working towards the release of her second EP "Mount Self-Esteem," which is due in early 2018.
OTHER LINKS
Personal Website