Did you know that in the middle of the Eswatini mountains there is a high couture fashion, exquisite food and music festival? Each year at the beginning of August, the Standard Bank Luju Food and Lifestyle Festival opens its gates for two days of cultural abundance. When I get to the festival area on Friday evening the sunlight is just about to disappear and I can feel the wind whisper promises of a cold, magical night.
Who is the magical performer Zoë Modiga?
As soon as Zoë Modiga enters Lujus main stage, the energy shifts in the audience. With her flowing gown and absolute presence she appears otherworldly, yes divine even. The audience holds its breath in reverence. With energy from above she greets us and the whole audience erupts in cheers. For this particular concert, Zoë could have given her chorus and band a night off since she was properly backed up by the singing audience.
It was a very special performance, one of the kind I never experienced before, where the audience’s attention was 100% on the artist and she in turn, held us all with her spirit. It created an energy of connection and co-creation that moves me to this day, one year later.
Zoë Modiga has loved singing since she was a child and pursued musical ambitions and higher education from an early age. She emerged nationally in 2016 when she participated in the talent show The Voice South Africa. In 2017 she debuted with her first album Yellow: the novel and has since then built an internationally renowned career. She is celebrated both as a singer and activist, and is often caught creating music that will move you with their depth.
It will not take long before scholars start mentioning the Modiga-sound when they teach music and expression, as she has the skill of making the music entirely her own. Her classical background makes itself known but she herself calls her style Afrofuturistic.
It was the first time I saw her live and I was completely floored. With all of her awards and acknowledgements, national as international, nobody can deny that this artist can sing. But what she did on stage was more than that. It almost gave me the feeling of being in church: where Zoë was the pastor and we, the crowd, her devoted, singing congregation. When we sit down together after the performance, she is radiating.
Interviewing Zoë Modiga
*The written interview may have some differences to the podcast as the text has been edited for readability.
First, that was an amazing performance! What an experience!
“It was so beautiful to be here in Eswatini. It’s not the first time I’m here and it does feel like a second home. It was so beautiful to come back and be a part of Luju festival for the first time, alongside an incredible line-up of beautiful musicians who have such beautiful messages to share. So to be able to be here and to be of one spirit with everyone was so incredible!”
Being one of South Africa’s present day youngest, most renowned, international artists known for creating an immortal cultural legacy, I must ask, what is it that drives you to create and impact the way you do?
“I think that just being able to know that I’m a part of something bigger. I’m not just an artist by myself but I take the baton from the greats like Thandiswa Mazwai, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Salif Keita. There are so many incredible icons that I have been able to learn from and I’ve been able to take from that. I think it is a special thing that we are as a people. So I’m happy to have a little part of that, a little story in that, in the beauty that we are. That is what drives me.”
You are known for speaking up and creating around social issues, you don’t seem afraid to walk to the beat of your own drum. Is that something that has always been close to your heart?
“I think I really agree with the fact of artists being there to reflect the times. It is a saying I’ve heard so often and I think it is the case. We are here to reflect what is happening in society and to document that with our art forms and with our music. I know with my first album, it was a lot about self realization. Then the second album was really about celebrating black bodies and just human beings at large. There are so many things that make us separate but also that pull us together. Social issues, social victories are something that I like to share and be a part of.”
Today you have more awards than I can count on my hand, but it didn’t start out that way. What is the biggest difference for you, being where you are today as an artist, as a person, as a woman, and where you were when you started this journey?
“Oh my goodness, I think when I started the journey I was hopeful. I wanted to have something that is impactful to share. I wanted to evoke emotion through music, just merely because of the power that music has. Looking back, I am very surprised at where I am now. It is not without its challenges, it is not without its hardship but there is so much fulfilment that comes from being here! From meeting people like yourself, like minded people who I am able to just relate with, who I’m able to see – music is what brings us together. I’ve been able to really appreciate that journey and take one day at the time. Sometimes it makes absolutely no sense but I think, evenings like tonight, remind me of why I do what I do. That is beautiful, that is a gift I got from being here.”
You said you started out as hopeful, do you feel you have a different confidence today in the space that you take and the space that you create?
“Man I think that confidence is constantly being challenged but it’s also constantly growing at the same time. I can really be quiet humble to the experience of just being able to bring myself to the moment. To present myself in order to be used, cuz I do feel I’m a vessel of something that is bigger than myself. I just like to humble myself to the moment, take it one day at the time with everything that it comes with. It really is special, it’s very powerful.”
How is it being a woman in this male dominated space? Do you feel that affects you or how you are perceived?
“Oh man, I think being a woman is such an important part of my journey. There is this ability that we have to take in masculinity and to take in femininity and the way that we express ourselves. There is a nurturing spirit that comes with being a woman, a creating spirit. I do work with a lot of males in my work but I also do work with different communities: women, people that are part of the lgbtqai+ community. I love to really experience people but also step forward in my womanhood. There is something so charming, so warm, so seductive, so enchanting, so inspiring about being that. With all of the challenges that it comes with, I think it, it is who I am and I wear it like a badge.”
What is next for you?
“I have no idea what is next! I am open to the opportunity, I am open to the possibility. I just want to be a decent human being, first and foremost. I want to be able to play all the roles that I play outside of the music world. Whether that is being a friend, a sister, a daughter. You know, my sister and my mom are here tonight, so I’m wanting to love into those spaces. I think that then impacts the music and the way that people receive it. If you are a decent human being, there are some things that shine through. So that is what is next for me! I’m open for life to exceed my expectations. I don’t think I want to have expectations anymore, I’m open for those to be exceeded.”
To those who are just about to take that leap to follow their heart, what words of wisdom would you share?
“I would like to tell them to listen to that quiet voice. The voice that leads you into places that you fear. The voice that leads you into places that make you uncomfortable, because that is when life is able to open itself out to you. The thing about looking and listening to that voice is that it will always lead you to exactly where you need to be. That’s where authenticity comes from, that’s where honesty comes from. That’s where the doubts and the victories come from. It won’t always be comfortable but it will be beautiful.”
Reflections from one year later
I remember this interview like it was yesterday and yet I don’t. At the moment I was so starstruck, so in awe, that everything seems like a fog. I remember being so nervous about taking the space, the media tent was buzzing with activity and then suddenly she is in front of us in all her might. And yet so very human. When I started the interview the whole tent became still, the attention completely on her, almost like at the concert. Zoë Modiga has the capacity to steer the energy of a whole stadium and once my five minutes with her were over, I stumbled groggily away knowing that my life had changed.
At the time of the interview, almost exactly one year ago, I had no idea how her words were narrating what was to come for me, I just knew I was deeply moved. But turns out, just as Zoë said, you have to be right with yourself first, work from the inside out! And sometimes… most times actually, it is in the silence and stillness, through the uncomfortable and through the fear, that you reach just the place of where you are supposed to be.
Today I have just gotten back from yet another BEAUTIFUL Luju Festival. This time with a year of experience in my back, a team of my own and a proper winter jacket! But the journey from last year to present day has been far from a dance on roses. It’s been quiet. It’s been in the absolute in between of taking the jump and not know if, when or where I was going to land. That is why we start season 2 here, right where Zoë left me feeling more seen than ever. That is the message I want you to take with you today: living through the heart is certainly not always comfortable, but it definitely is worth it!
