After losing her mother and aunt to HIV and AIDS, South African singer Nomfusi Ngonyama transformed her grief into powerful music, rising from heartbreak to a global sensation.
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00:00This voice leaves no one cold.
00:07Rousing Afro soul peppered with Motown and old school South African jazz is her trademark.
00:19South African singer and songwriter Nomfusi spiritedly emphasises the power of her culture
00:25and tells of family, society and personal experiences.
00:30And these, as we are about to find out, were not always as glorious as they are today.
00:35I stand on stage and I voice my opinions and I'm heard, you know, and also I think it's
00:44something that it heals my childhood traumas because there was a lot of being dismissed
00:52in that whole process of, you know, not having parents and all this and all this.
00:56There's a lot of, you know, you don't matter, you don't, you know, you.
00:59So now being able to have a stage and have a voice, it kind of slowly fills that gap
01:07and gives me so much peace within me.
01:11Nomfusi first met with a hard fate when she was 12 years old and her mother died of HIV
01:15and AIDS, leaving her and her siblings with her aunt.
01:19How is she putting all that into words or rather into music?
01:24I grew up in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
01:29I was raised by a single mother.
01:31She was a Sangoma, a traditional healer.
01:35And so I grew up in a, in a quite a noisy home, especially during weekends, there would
01:40be a lot of people coming into the house, there will be slaughtering of a sheep, chicken
01:46and then music from my mom's songs to well-known community songs, traditional songs, the beating
01:58of the drum.
01:59I then became that child that would be called every now and then to come and dance.
02:04So I guess that's where my entertainment skills were brewed and nurtured.
02:10I think that was the birth of Nomfusi, the singer and the musician.
02:17The 36-year-old played and sang the role of Miriam Makeba in South Africa's biggest movie,
02:24Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom.
02:27Nomfusi knows how to shine, even though her personal demons were difficult to overcome.
02:32Her biggest shock was repeated when her aunt also died of HIV and AIDS a few years after
02:37her mother.
02:38How did she still make it to the top of South African music and the world stage?
02:47I felt like I had a beautiful childhood, do you understand?
02:51Being in a shack, in the informal settlements, did not feel weird, I guess because, you know,
03:02everybody, we were all the same until, of course, you grow up and you realize that,
03:07hmm, that was quite messy.
03:11But I did use music as a tool to get me out of dark moments, to get me out of sad moments,
03:22to get me out of rejection.
03:27When my aunt passed away, it was a pickle, it was a very difficult situation because
03:31the lady now that took over the house really wanted us out.
03:36I remember having a fight with her and for some reason I told her that I'm not going anywhere.
03:45I don't know where I got the guts to say that, but I did.
03:49I said I'm not going anywhere.
03:51But I made a decision again that, you know what, I'm going to finish my matric, I'm going
03:55to stay here, I'm going to take whatever that she brings because I want to finish my matric.
04:00And after finishing my matric, I'm going to move out.
04:03And that's exactly what I did.
04:05After passing her final exams exceptionally well, despite the difficulties, Nomfusi made
04:10the choice to pursue accounting in university.
04:13But her career aspirations took a different turn.
04:17My background is still following me, you know, I don't have financial support.
04:22And what do I do?
04:23I had to find myself a job.
04:26And I went to work at a restaurant in Cape Town called Stardust.
04:32The interesting thing about this restaurant is that you serve tables and then you go on
04:37stage and perform.
04:38Of course, I sucked at serving tables, but I guess I did a pretty good job on that stage.
04:44I decided that this is the life that I want.
04:48Nomfusi has used the power of music to share songs about her past, her mother, relationships,
04:54societal issues and more.
04:57What else is she sharing with her audience?
05:02I went back to my mom's traditional ceremonies.
05:11They would be just singing ugombela.
05:15We call it ugombela.
05:27You know, so there's like, you know, a lot of clapping.
05:29So there is a lot of that inspiration.
05:33Nomfusi has performed at the world's most prestigious music festivals, along stars
05:41like Hugh Masegela, Lionel Richie and Moop Mama.
05:45And with her charisma and all she learned from her mother, Nomfusi's African sound
05:50resounds in our ears.