Episode 7: Bongeziwe Mabandla | The African Imaginary Podcast
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In our seventh episode of The African Imaginary Podcast, host Khangi Khoza talks to South African singer-songwriter, Bongeziwe Mabandla on the eve of his sold-out Cape Town show, fresh off a European tour, and amidst the build-up to his highly anticipated fifth studio album, Ndingubane. They explore the imagination shaped by his Eastern Cape childhood, how he has made a career from showing his vulnerability, and what it means to sing in isiXhosa on world stages for people who cannot speak his language, but still feel every word.
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Bongeziwe Mabandla is a multi-award winning singer-songwriter from South Africa, best known for his iconic blend of isiXhosa folk and electronica, which he calls Xhosa soul.
Mbandla was born in Tsolo, a small town in the rural Eastern Cape, and raised with church choirs and Bantu folk songs. The guitar arrived at seventeen, then drama school in Johannesburg and a role in beloved SA soapie Generations, before his 2012 debut Umlilo.
The real engine of the catalogue, though, is his partnership with Mozambican producer and instrumentalist Tiago Correia-Paulo. Tiago has been the architect alongside him since Mangaliso - the 2017 album that won Best Alternative at the SAMAs and established the formula that still holds: Mabandla's guitar and tenor at the centre, Correia-Paulo's electronics blooming around them. iimini (2020) - another SAMA winner - landed on American Songwriter's Top Albums of the Year; amaXesha (2023) was named The Guardian's Global Album of the Month.
Ndingubani, the fourth album with Correia-Paulo, dropped in June 2026. For the first time, he has collaborated with Cameroonian songwriter Blick Bassy, sparking his curiosity in working more throughout the continent, he tells The African Imaginary.
His world outside music includes a role in the acclaimed Shaka iLembe, and fashion collaborations with Thebe Magugu and Nao Serati. Drawn to the world of art and fashion, he painted the work on the cover of his latest album, and has designed his own merch.
Currently based in Paris, Mabandla remains a tender chronicler of vulnerability, his music a balm for lonely hearts.
🙏🏾 Thank you Bongeziwe for stepping inside The African Imaginary and transcending language with your isiXhosa soul.
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Bongeziwe Mabandla is a multi-award winning singer-songwriter from South Africa, best known for his iconic blend of isiXhosa folk and electronica, which he calls Xhosa soul.
Mbandla was born in Tsolo, a small town in the rural Eastern Cape, and raised with church choirs and Bantu folk songs. The guitar arrived at seventeen, then drama school in Johannesburg and a role in beloved SA soapie Generations, before his 2012 debut Umlilo.
The real engine of the catalogue, though, is his partnership with Mozambican producer and instrumentalist Tiago Correia-Paulo. Tiago has been the architect alongside him since Mangaliso - the 2017 album that won Best Alternative at the SAMAs and established the formula that still holds: Mabandla's guitar and tenor at the centre, Correia-Paulo's electronics blooming around them. iimini (2020) - another SAMA winner - landed on American Songwriter's Top Albums of the Year; amaXesha (2023) was named The Guardian's Global Album of the Month.
Ndingubani, the fourth album with Correia-Paulo, dropped in June 2026. For the first time, he has collaborated with Cameroonian songwriter Blick Bassy, sparking his curiosity in working more throughout the continent, he tells The African Imaginary.
His world outside music includes a role in the acclaimed Shaka iLembe, and fashion collaborations with Thebe Magugu and Nao Serati. Drawn to the world of art and fashion, he painted the work on the cover of his latest album, and has designed his own merch.
Currently based in Paris, Mabandla remains a tender chronicler of vulnerability, his music a balm for lonely hearts.
🙏🏾 Thank you Bongeziwe for stepping inside The African Imaginary and transcending language with your isiXhosa soul.
Chapters
- 00:00 Intro
- 01:30 Bongeziwe plays ‘Keep or Toss’
- 05:42 The meaning of his name
- 06:58 Growing up in Tsolo, Eastern Cape
- 09:36 Music as an escape in a rural childhood
- 10:38 Bongeziwe's mother
- 16:30 Leaving home for art school
- 18:35 Mental health, depression and sensitivity
- 22:10 Devotion over intellect and the spiritual life
- 27:12 Moving to Joburg and finding his calling
- 30:09 Acting in Generations
- 35:30 'Khangela'
- 37:22 His creative partnership with Tiago Correia-Paolo
- 42:11 Bongeziwe on community, playing in Langa
- 43:13 Sold out shows in France and singing isiXhosa abroad
- 47:42 Africa beyond South Africa
- 50:40 South Africa, xenophobia and the continental lens
- 51:15 Fashion, identity and gender-fluid silhouettes
- 53:17 'Ndingubani', his latest album
- 57:59 Musical influences: Tracy Chapman, Lauryn Hill, Jabu Khanyile
- 01:01:15 Outro
