A Hymn To The Queens: Buhle on Creating the Sound of Shaka iLembe
In this exclusive interview, the Manor catches up with celebrated songwriter and performer Buhle, about the creation of her title track for Shaka iLembe — a cinematic warcry honouring the women who gave the historic leader his power.
A collection of warcries crafted with extraordinary depth and purpose, the soundtrack for the Shaka iLembe series rolls out in each episode with almost as much weekly anticipation from audiences as the dramatic plots themselves. Like hymns, near-liturgical in their choral layering, with monumental vocals and rhythmic melodies that are deep and textured, each track brims with each creator’s own experience of Shaka — experiences that, with a little unpacking, are as rich and nuanced as Shaka’s own.
The series, that has consistently broken viewership records across the continent since its release earlier this year, brought on Buhlebendalo Mda aka Buhle, the South African, Soweto-born songstress (and only female member of The Soil acapella group) to create the series’ title track ‘iLembe’. The Manor caught up with Buhle as the track was about to release to the public — a cinematic composition many years in the making, with a connection to her own story that the artist only discovered while she was working on it.
“It was a life-changing experience and process for me. It felt like a journey of uTwasa, of wanting to dig deep into someone’s history, into a nation that is praised today, and will be praised going forward, so I had to give it the same amount of respect in the storytelling that I do. It was also a very interesting turn in my career as a songwriter and storyteller. I went up a notch.”
Her sentiments echo several of the creators and members of the series’ cast, who have found themselves transformed by their work on Shaka iLembe.
While on set, Buhle tells us, there was a sort of spiritual awakening that took place – something untangible, but felt by many of the cast and crew. “Even today, I still struggle to explain the feeling of being on set that came over me. There was a sort of thickness in the space, a sort of root, and a deeper understanding that I experienced…and reality kind of slapped me to say that we are actually rewriting history.”
Looking back, this project didn’t feel like just one song, but like a journey of actually understanding what sort of storyteller I want to be. I had to do a lot of research, and asking around with the elders about the history of the Zulu, about the story of the amaZulu, and wanted to portray a narrative that could transcend through time”
“In my career I’ve always wanted to do something big, but I never expected it to be something like this. I got overwhelmed with being on the ground, and I remember I got so teary, and very heightened with my spiritual connection with my people. I feel like there’s more to the story of the land that we walk on than what we think. As far as It’s colonized, there are still so many stories that are untold of the ground that we walk on. I felt the presence of why we were there, and it was to tell the story of the making of Shaka Zulu.”
For her title track Buhle explores a rewriting of a popular narrative that many South Africans grew up understanding about Shaka popularized by early retellings of the myth and history of the infamous leader of the Zulu people. “I wanted to write from an angle of the matriarchal prowess that the Zulu kingdom had. Growing up in the 90’s, the only Shaka Zulu we knew from TV was very patriarchal, and never told the story of the queens — the very people who nurtured the kings, and their children. The people who nurtured the land, and nurtured the rain. The queens who protected their young. So I wrote to celebrate those queens, who were never celebrated in the past. I wrote lines like, ‘Shaka is a beautiful fruit of Nandi’, that could be a celebration of the queens that made Shaka.”
For Buhle the release of the song is part of a new chapter in her story, one that moves closer toward her deeper purpose, she says. “I’m at a point in my life and career where I want to spread my different gifts and to explore them without a deadline or certain goal, but just to explore my art and craft in different ways. I’ve been working with a lot of artists whose music touches me in different ways, just for the sake of creating art. I’m spreading my wings. I’m making clothing, and creating safe spaces for like-minded people. So I don’t just want to sing anymore, but I want to live my dreams, and spend more time with my friends and family, and growing my brand, and growing mentally and spiritually in those silent moments that I intentionally seek for myself. I’m not living toward a certain goal anymore, I just want to be an all-round artist and healer in every sphere.”
Production Credits
Creative Director and Photographer: Trevor Stuurman
Editorial Director: Garreth Van Niekerk
Business Director & Producer: Neo Chabedi
