Ntsika Ngxanga is making sweet music and relishing the adventures of being a musical director, producer, actor and now also a solo artist.
Tomorrow, he will be on stage at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF).
“I’m super excited so much so that my nerves have been swallowed up by me being enthusiastically looking forward to my performance,” he says.
“The CTIJF is the biggest stage in Africa and beyond and I feel so blessed to have been chosen as one of the amazing artists to grace that stage.”
Ngxanga is best known for being a part of the award-winning rhythmic a capella group, The Soil, who made their debut on stage at the 2014 CTIJF.
During his performance, Ntsika says he hopes to teleport the festival lovers to a spiritual world they never even knew existed. “It will be an emotive performance and it will leave people with so much joy and pride,” he says.
At the beginning of the month, he released his debut album, I write what I dream, which is a play on Steve Biko’s “I write what I like”.
This connects to the artist’s prophetic dreams, and he gets candid about his life story.
His albums follow his first single, "Awundiva" (Can you not hear me?) which features the talented and award-winning singer and songwriter Vusi Nova.
He adds that the track was inspired by his wife of five years, Chumasande Ngxanga - it’s a love letter of sorts to her to emphasise to her just how much he loves her.
The dynamics of their love also made it into all the love songs that are on the album. “I simply musically expressed how I feel about her and decided to tell the whole world,” says Ngxanga.
He’s multi-talented and has not only the gift of singing but has the gift of seeing into the spiritual realm, which is where he says he extracts his music - he admits this might sound a little absurd for some people.
He wrote and produced his first full debut album, except for the track, 14, which he worked on with singer Vusi Nova and gospel artist Lebo Sekgobela.
Despite his solo musical pursuit, the mellifluous vocalist says it’s not the end of The Soil.
“The group will not disband because we all believe that it is a national treasure we can’t afford to live without,” he says.
Catch Ntsika at 10.30pm at Moses Molelekwa on Saturday.
For full #CTIJF artist programme visit www.capetownjazzfest.com