Velemseni banking on joy

By Mrs M 

To listen to Velemseni is to step into a sanctuary. Not a place, but a feeling. A room made of rhythm and reflection, where soul meets spirit. She sings like someone with roots in the soil and her head in the clouds grounded, yet ascendant. Every note is a love letter, every breath a sermon.

And now, she stands on the brink of something colossal: The 2025 Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival. Set to take the stage on September 26, Velemseni will carry not just her name but the heartbeat of a nation Eswatini’s sound, soul, and pride into the global jazz arena.

 This isn’t just another gig. This is a moment of recognition, a poetic reckoning of how far a voice can travel when it stays true to its origin.

The Joy of Jazz, officially known as the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, is an annual jazz festival held in Johannesburg, South Africa. It's recognized as one of the premier jazz events in Africa, attracting a diverse audience of jazz enthusiasts from across the continent and the globe.

The 2025 edition of the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz is scheduled to be a three-day event from September 26th to 28th at the Sandton International Convention Centre in Johannesburg. 

It promises an expanded program with over 60 musicians from 15 countries, with a special focus on celebrating the contributions of women in jazz.

 Velemseni, professionally known as Velemseni, is a female guitarist and vocalist originally from Eswatini. Her music is a blend of jazz, neo-soul, and alternative Afro-pop, reflecting the cultural richness of her homeland.Velemseni has performed at significant events in Eswatini and South Africa.

Her discography is not just a body of work it is a body in motion. Her debut album ‘We Are All People’ released in 2014 is a soft-spoken protest, a melodic thesis on humanity and healing. 

It's jazz laced with gospel, threaded with Afro-soul, yet refreshingly unpretentious. She doesn't sing to impress. She sings to express. 

Listening to her is like reading Toni Morrison by candlelight, gentle but heavy. Intimate, yet panoramic. Her performances are ritualistic: her hands tell their own story through her guitar, her face speaks even when silent.

There's a reverence in Velemseni’s delivery, a sacred pause between lines, as if she's letting the music decide when it's ready to move forward.

She doesn’t chase the spotlight; she summons it. With a calm command. With stillness that speaks louder than spectacle. In a world that claps for noise, Velemseni whispers and the real ones lean in.

You hear echoes of Nina Simone’s fire, Lira’s polish, and Simphiwe Dana’s spirit, but make no mistake: she is wholly, definitely herself. 

Her music holds the ache and joy of womanhood, the questions of a searching soul, the politics of being soft in a hard world.

One of her heartfelt songs, now internationally streamed and celebrated, is titled ‘Barely’ This is a song where she seeks to unravel everything all at once all the while trying to remain with herself, be herself.

Barely by Velemseni is a soul-bearing, stripped-down masterpiece. That song doesn’t just play, it confesses. It's that type of track that crawls into your chest and gently taps at everything you’ve tried to bury. 

The guitar work is raw and intimate, her voice achy but composed, like someone who's been through the fire but made it out softer, not harder.

It sounds like standing in front of a mirror at midnight asking, ‘How did we get here?’ There’s restraint in it, but also release. A quiet rebellion of someone choosing to feel everything instead of nothing. She doesn’t shout her pain, she invites you to sit with it.

However Barely has nothing on her classics like ‘Gendza’, ‘Shisa’ and ‘Lutsandvo’ where she emotionally shows off her range, vocals and stage presence. 

So to see her now, on the precipice of such a celebrated stage, is to witness the slow magic of seeds finally blooming. This isn’t an arrival, it's a reminder that she’s always been here.

Velemseni’s voice doesn’t just fill a room. It cleanses it. And when she sings this September in Johannesburg, under the glow of jazz’s oldest torch, it won’t just be a performance, it will be a prayer, a promise, and a triumph.