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STAVROS NIARCHOS FOUNDATION

Music

Nakhane

Contemporary Music

Wednesday June 26, 20.30, Canal Stage

Nakhane

When Nakhane sings, “the scene becomes a map of tenderness,” someone once wrote about this exciting South African singer, composer, writer, and actor. Some people discern in this idiosyncratic creator elements from both Prince and David Bowie. Just last December, Madonna posted a photo of him on her Instagram account, highlighting him as one of her favorite young artists and one who inspires her. The first sounds he remembers ever hearing are the voices of his family singing Mozart arias and South African ecclesiastical songs. He was still a child when his mother introduced him to the music of Marvin Gaye and the O’Jays, and already then he had a voice that was both triumphal and fragile.

He grew up loving music, cultivating his unique gift and struggling to embrace his sexuality in a deeply Christian, staunchly conservative family. Conflicts, restrictions, prejudice, a talent that was stifled to the point of explosion, and an identity that was longing to be vindicated all followed. Now thirty-one years old, Nakhane was born in a village near Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and moved to Johannesburg when he was 15 years old. That was when he first heard pop music and the explosion he felt was expected. It coincided with the realization of his sexual identity in an environment that had very close links to the church.

When, at the age of 19, he revealed that he was gay, his family and the church to which he belonged decided that prayer could change him. There followed six bewildering, tortuous years during which Nakhane was presented as a poster child in the local church and local conservative society for how God could do away with the sexual attraction he felt for men. Obviously this could not last long.

A dream he had one night made him leave this behind and accept his identity. He dreamed of a voice telling him the date he would die. And, as he describes it, he who had lived with a constant reminder of divine punishment suddenly felt free from the fear of death. And so he decided to make up for lost time, to live as he wished. That was the spark that ignited his career, freed his artistic essence and allowed his gift to come to the surface without restrictions and rules.

Νakhane brings all these opposing worlds and new experiences onto the stage, arguing that as traumatic as his experiences may have been, he was determined not merely to survive, but to triumph. The Guardian is already calling him “one to watch.” Nakhane was inspired by Anohni, Busi Mhlongo, David Bowie, Mbongwana Star, and Nina Simone. His first album had the eloquent title Brave Confusion. It was followed by You Will Not Die – a clear reference to the dream that changed his life. He hopes that this album may change the life of some young man, just as James Baldwin's books changed his as a teenager. He would read and think to himself: “Oh my God, I’m not the only one, I’m not crazy, I’m not alone, my existence matters.” It was at that time that he decided to talk to his parents about his homosexuality.

He has lived in London for the past two years, after a number of death threats he received in South Africa when he starred in The Wound.