{"id":11595,"date":"2022-01-31T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/?p=11595"},"modified":"2022-05-15T19:40:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T17:40:43","slug":"full-circle-with-the-one-who-sings-and-writes-and-heals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/art-entertainment\/full-circle-with-the-one-who-sings-and-writes-and-heals\/","title":{"rendered":"A sunset mass with &#8216;the One Who Sings\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last night we went to mass with The One Who Sings, Zolani, and the ancestors under the big tree in the garden at the Baxter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zolani Mahola, The One Who Sings, and Sarah Blake, double bass at Baxter Theatre\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-f2PksMSDeI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The light shone out of The One Who Sings as she urged us to love ourselves. \u201cHold your damn self,\u201d she said as she held us all in an incredible circle of connection, us and every single one who ever went before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It feels like the beginning of a new time, an ancient new time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>From before <\/em><\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The One Who Sings, aka the fabulous Zolani Mahola, will perform songs from her sensational new debut solo album,&nbsp;<em>Thetha Mama<\/em>, at the Baxter Theatre on January 30 2022 at 6pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Zolani-Mahola-The-One-Who-Sings.jpg?resize=283%2C466&#038;quality=95&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16107\" width=\"283\" height=\"466\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>And &#8230; it gets better &#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe it is Covid, maybe it is because nobody who has ever been in Cape Town on January 30 wants to be indoors &#8230; that old favourite of ours, the Baxter Theatre, is holding this outdoors as part of a series of summer concerts in the garden, Sun-Set@Baxter.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thetha Mama has received great reviews. Sun-Set@Baxter audiences will be among the first people to experience Zolani&#8217;s unique new sound live. She has described it as &#8220;a modern folk-infused style, with electro-soul and a touch of Amapiano&#8221;; CallOffTheSearch&#8217;s source described it as &#8220;music you can&#8217;t help making love to&#8221;. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bring your picnic baskets and blankets, but only alcohol purchased from The Baxter\u2019s bar will be permitted. Picnic hampers are available from Baxter\u2019s restaurant and can purchased from Webtickets when booking your ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Book your tickets at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/webtickets.co.za\" target=\"_blank\">webtickets.co.za<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some time ago in a different galaxy &#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"full-circle-with-the-one-who-sings-and-heals\">Full circle with \u2018The One Who Sings\u2019 \u2026 and heals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We remember Zolani Mahola performing with Shakira at the opening ceremony of the Football World Cup 2010, the eyes of South Africa, a broken country longing for healing, focused on the pint-sized powerhouse. What we don\u2019t know is that her energy and joyfulness belied a lifetime of pain carried inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lead singer of Freshlyground, our home-grown superstar, has come full circle and is sharing the story of her own journey to healing in her one-woman show, The One Who Sings (from the Xhosa Lo Uculayo).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In barely more than an\nhour, Zolani tells of what broke her heart and tore her apart and takes the\naudience on a journey of healing as she makes herself whole again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the most part,\ntime passes quickly, with life-changing moments, years, decades even, represented\nby a few lines, a poem, a song, a shawl, a skirt. But time also freezes sometimes\nas it takes a minute or two to have our worst fears confirmed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZolaniMahola.jpg?resize=346%2C319&#038;quality=95&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11596\" width=\"346\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZolaniMahola.jpg?w=800&amp;quality=95&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZolaniMahola.jpg?resize=300%2C277&amp;quality=95&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZolaniMahola.jpg?resize=768%2C708&amp;quality=95&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZolaniMahola.jpg?resize=217%2C200&amp;quality=95&amp;ssl=1 217w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The One Who Sings is the story of a family living in a bubble of love until that bubble is burst by the gravest of losses. It is the story of a happy little girl who loved to polish the stoep, who grew up to be a global superstar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is the story of innocence destroyed by a wicked step-mother and a lecherous step-brother and a world that wanted to confine people like her to backwaters and dark corners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zolani seems almost part-woman part-child as she shifts between her childhood self, the accomplished and adored songstress and diva, and the new Zolani, the transformational and motivational speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> She bares all, and hers is a shocking and sad story. Sadly, it is all-too familiar in South Africa. A cycle of bereavement and abuse, invisibility and not being good enough, culminating in the self-abuse of addiction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She talks about being sent\nto a Catholic school, where she is forced to check in her name and mother\ntongue. As the English-speaking \u2018Monica\u2019, the confused teenager tries to get Mother\nMary, to whom she is made to sing, to make good on her side of the bargain and\nlisten to her prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zolani has always had the uncanny ability to make you feel like she is singing to you alone, whispering in your ear. Never more so than now when she is telling this very personal story in the intimacy of the Golden Arrow Studio in the Baxter complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zolani\u2019s fortunes\nchanged quickly after she made it to UCT, to study drama. Freshlyground was\nformed and she was catapulted to another world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She was successful and\nso famous, gigging all over the world, but she was still running away from the\nloss and the hurt of her childhood. She couldn\u2019t escape the devil locked inside\nher so she turned to alcohol to keep the darkness from overwhelming the light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"345\" height=\"335\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Rumi.jpg?resize=345%2C335&#038;quality=95&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Rumi.jpg?w=345&amp;quality=95&amp;ssl=1 345w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Rumi.jpg?resize=300%2C291&amp;quality=95&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 345px) 100vw, 345px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In a particularly\npoignant scene, this courageous, wounded woman-child describes the war between\ndarkness and light when as a mother she is forced to confront her addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes it is hard\nto watch, we feel shocked, raw, cut up. Harder to imagine what it is like for\nZolani to tell this story. But she holds us in her arms, soothing us in that\nreassuring way she has, talking to us individually, telling us it is going to\nbe okay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She comforts and lulls\nus also with the extraordinary range of songs, familiar and new, and the\nstories behind them. The old favourites get a new lease on life, they sound\neven better, now that we know what we know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new songs are\nsensational multi-genre numbers. There is that impressive vocal range that we\nknow from Freshlyground\u2019s repertoire, the soothing ballads, her voice thick as\nhoney, and then suddenly the crystal clear voice of an angel cuts through.\nThere is also some soul, quite a bit of rock, and a new husky gravelly rock\nchic emerging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Zolaniposter.jpg?resize=299%2C400&#038;quality=95&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11599\" width=\"299\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Zolaniposter.jpg?w=531&amp;quality=95&amp;ssl=1 531w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Zolaniposter.jpg?resize=224%2C300&amp;quality=95&amp;ssl=1 224w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 299px) 100vw, 299px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Zolani, the storyteller, takes us full circle, from a treasured memory of lying in the crook of her Mum\u2019s arm learning to colour in the lines to holding her sons in the same way. Rites of passage indeed, but who needs the lines when you can colour in like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In telling her story\nso bravely she shows us that even the deepest wounds can heal. It is 9 years\nafter the World Cup, that moment when a country desperate for healing focused\non the pint-sized pop star, who hadn\u2019t yet started her own journey of healing. Now\nshe has and she is sharing it with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Director: Faniswa Yisa; Designer: Angela Nemov; Musical Director:&nbsp; Aron Turest-Swartz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zolani #Raisingdata campaign for Zip Zap\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lYsQ5KQbPV8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Us, The One Who Sings (aka Zolani Mahola) and all of the ancestors at the Baxter on a steamy summer night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[411],"tags":[65,167,431,469,1396,1397,1500,1398,1491,1395,1394,430],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Zolani-Mahola-The-One-Who-Sings-Sunset-Concerts-at-The-Baxter-January-30-2022-scaled.jpg?fit=1021%2C1920&quality=95&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11595"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11595"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16142,"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11595\/revisions\/16142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calloffthesearch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}