Nay’ Indaba

In the Xhosa language, indaba refers to an authorised meeting, such as a conference of chiefs, called to discuss a pressing topic or topics. Nay’ Indaba, Pilani Bubu’s latest full-length album, is a compelling collection of songs addressing social, political and humanitarian issues, each of which showcases the singer-songwriter-folkorist’s exceptionally agile voice, which melds characteristic South African cues – growls, trills, clicks, extended vibrato – with elements of new soul, hip-hop and contemporary jazz. French jazz-rockers Marthe provide a lithe, swinging, brassy platform for songs such as ‘Asizolala’, a modern rendering of a Xhosa folk song intended to instil hope. In ‘Sithi Chu’, Alexis Moutzouris’ fluid sax and clarinet, Florent Briqué’s fulsome trumpet, Lucas Territo’s jagged electric guitar and Damien Bernard’s drumming, seasoned with a dash of New Orleans second-line shuffle, serve as backdrop for a song about the trials and tribulations of street children in Bubu’s hometown of Johannesburg. In ‘Umfazi’, Bubu and a female chorus exalt feminine strength and solidarity by insistently intoning a single word, ‘woman,’ girded by hip-hop breaks. Called by an artist of commanding authority, Nay’ Indaba is a musical conference of pressing importance.