I got to the assignment, sat down, and you know damn well Nelisa Lawton does not play about time. This lady, draped in clothes and grass mats, took to the stage. My immediate thought was, shit is about to bang. I was high, though, and could barely function with the broken Canon camera they had given me.
She took to the stage barefoot. Okay, Erykah Badu, go off. I kid you not, she started humming through her makhoyane instrument and making these sounds. They were not noise, but sounds of affirmation, and somehow she calmed my nervous system that day. On some random Friday afternoon in 2019, Thobile calmed my nervous system.
And so this is an ode to the woman who transforms and curates an ambience so calm that you never want her to stop singing. Unfortunately, that night she did stop performing. The night came to an end; I went home, wrote the fuck out of that story, and, three months later, Thobile kissed me.
Yes, she did, because of that article. Since then, I have seen almost every art show, exhibition and live performance. My love for her work is sickening. I have written about Thobile at least 10 times, and somehow I still find myself with something to say whenever she walks onto a stage.
So, fast forward to last night. I know a baddie is after my heart when she pulls up with new music and experiments. That lady had 25 minutes on the stage, and rent was due, you hear?
Thobile ‘Makhoyane’ Magagula opened the October International Theatre Festival at the Theatre Club with a three-song performance that moved between vulnerability, experimentation and the traditional sound that has become closely associated with her work.
She walked onto the stage as the festival’s first act and walked off with four new performance opportunities in South Africa. Makhoyane opens the album with a vibrating string and calabash resonance that seems to change color with every breath.
Seed rattles and low hand drum enter sparingly, then firmer footwork and sibhaca-derived weight bring the music closer to the ground. The contrast between solitary bow tones and public rhythmic motion shapes the pacing, moving from hillside stillness to processional energy without abrupt turns. Flute-like lines and dry percussion keep the textures lean, tactile, and attentive to space.
One booking is in Durban, another is in the Free State, while two more engagements have been secured in other parts of South Africa.
It is the kind of response that makes sense when you have watched Makhoyane build a performance language around sound, movement, indigenous instruments and an instinct for experimentation.
Hailing from the mountainous Kingdom of Eswatini, Makhoyane’s musical work brings together influences from home and abroad under what she describes as her ‘HypnoRock’ sound. Her imposing vocals sit over acoustic sounds and live instrumentation, with traditional and Western instruments often sharing the same stage.
The makhoyane and sitolotolo remain important parts of that sound. Her stage name comes from the makhoyane, the indigenous instrument that has become closely associated with her work and which she has helped carry into contemporary performance spaces.
Her influences stretch across the African continent. She has named Jabu Khanyile, Smiles Makama, Busi Mhlongo, Suthukazi Arosi, Youssou N’Dour and Oumou Sangaré among the voices that have influenced her musical journey.
Makhoyane’s artistic career, however, started long before she became known primarily as a musician. Born in rural Eswatini, she began performing as an actress and dancer in the late 1990s before developing her musical practice.
That background continues to show in the way she approaches a stage. Her work has moved between music, theatre, contemporary dance, poetry, video art and installation art, making collaboration a regular part of her practice.
She is a co-founder of Spirits Indigenous and a member of the all-female collective SheKings. In 2023, she was selected for House on Fire’s CollaboNation project, where she worked with Mozambican duo The Hood Brodz, bringing her traditional sound into a collaboration with Afro-tech and electronic influences.
Her performance history includes appearances at MTN Bushfire, the Soweto Arts Festival and AZGO Festival, alongside performances across Eswatini, South Africa and Mozambique.
Her work has also travelled through film. Makhoyane has contributed music to Mozambican films and documentaries, including the award-winning Mabatabata and Resgate, extending her use of indigenous sound into visual storytelling.
Last night, though, it was the stage at the Theatre Club that belonged to her. She performed three songs, allowing the set to move between the intimate and the experimental before closing with Ingwe Idla Ngemabala.
There was new material in the mix, and there was the familiar sound that has followed her through years of performances. She did not need a long set to establish the direction of the night. Twenty-five minutes was enough to leave the room wanting more and, apparently, enough for four people in South Africa to want her on their stages.
That first Friday in 2019, I was sitting in a freezing Theatre Club with a broken camera and far too much paranoia. Then a barefoot woman walked onto the stage with her makhoyane and changed the atmosphere completely. Last night, she did it again. Only this time, four South African bookings came with it.
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