#thandi ntuli

[ibhokhwe]

Thandi Ntuli interview in the International Anthem Recording co. zine.

[burlveneer-music]

Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño - Rainbow Revisited

Liner Notes by Thandi Ntuli: I travelled to Los Angeles and the USA for the first time in 2019. Although I had not met Carlos in person, we connected via Instagram where he saw a video of me playing a piano motif (titled ‘The One’ in this sequence) that he really liked and expressed a wish to record. This was around 2017. We tried a few times to get me over to Los Angeles, but the timing was always off. Through a performance organised by a creative collective called The Nonsemble at The Ford Theatre we finally got the opportunity to meet, play together and subsequently go into studio to record some improvisations as he guided the recording process. Having been aware of some of his work – in particular his collaborative projects as Carlos Niño & Friends, as well as with his friend and long-time collaborator, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – I knew that, with Carlos as producer, the artistic direction of the album would likely take me to a place I’d never considered going. A fact that had me both curious and terrified (as one tends to be when stepping into the unknown) Lol! Initially keen to record the song that he had seen/heard me play on Instagram, our performance a few days before the session drew him to the song Rainbow off my sophomore album, Exiled (2018). On that zen-like California afternoon in Andy Kravitz’s cozy studio in Venice Beach, he encouraged me to play around with various iterations of Rainbow. “Try it this way”, “How about adding that?”, “Can you breathe into the mic?”, “What if you focus on the last section?”, and many other explorations that eventually went through a few cuts, edits, yays and nays to become this body of work. Rainbow Revisited was birthed through that session, another session a couple of days later, and a series of many small synchronicities that led up to that moment. A particularly special moment for me was when he invited me to play something from home, which lent itself to me recording a song originally written by my grandfather that we often sing when at family gatherings. The song is called Nomayoyo. So much has happened since that session in late 2019. Many changes in our personal and collective universes. Losses and gains, births and transitions into the next life, Mother Nature’s ever-constant cycles reminding me that through all the chaos there remains, just beneath, this perfect order in Her ebb and flow. And most importantly, reminding me to feel for Her and to listen. She speaks! If Rainbow in my initial birthing of it, expressed a discontent with what we have accepted as freedom in South Africa and, possibly, around the world, I’d like to think that Rainbow Revisited is some kind of a response. Where the idea of ‘the rainbow nation’, with all the baggage it carried, had hijacked the innocence and mystical nature of a rainbow, I now reclaim its meaning through going back, going inward, healing, and rebuilding with the hope of a less heart-breaking and more fulfilling tomorrow. Lihlanzekile!  Thandi Ntuli: Piano, Synthesizer, Tongo, Voice Carlos Niño: Cymbals, Percussion, Plants Recorded by Andy Kravitz at Studio 4 West, Venice Beach, California, August 2019. Cover Art by Shabaka Hutchings. Graphic Design and Layout by Craig Hansen.

[syrensblog]

Lebo Mashile was burning with passion when she delivered this beautiful piece.

[ibhokhwe]

one of the most comforting songs ive ever heard

[dandelionflowerhead]

[saudi97]

[fuchsiaswingsong]

Listen/purchase: Nomayoyo (Ingoma ka Mkhulu) by Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño

[burlveneer-music]

Thandi Ntuli - Blk Elijah & The Children of Meroë - concept album from South African keyboardist/singer/composer

Blk Elijah & The Children of Meroë, is a story about the mystery of awakening, re-birth or re-MEMBERING.

After a long, solitary sojourn in Exile, from Self and from the Truth, it speaks to the treasures of joy, hope through uncertainty, self-compassion and other lessons gathered on the journey Home.

The story takes place in the realm of the protagonist's inner world. Her mind, her heart, her Spirit! Each character or each song brings up the different aspects of her complex and wonder-filled "Inner-verse". An "inner-verse" reflecting the outer world in which she finds herself in.

Blk Elijah, who is more a Presence than a person, is the Voice that reflects the archetype of the Divine Mother and the protagonist's Highest truest most authentic Self. She is the catalyst of awakening and the guide who once surrendered to, gently guides her, and all the Children of Meroë, back to wholeness.

Recorded at DYERTRIBE STUDIOS, PRETORIA on 17,18,19 February 2022. All songs written, arranged & produced by Thandi Ntuli except 'Amazing Grace' Portuguese lyrics, written by Tlangelani Gabriela Sophia Ngwenya and 'Izibongo' taken from the full text of the Ntuli Family Praises, written by Rev Gedlana Ntuli in his diary as he heard the praises from his father. Rev. Ntuli, great-grandfather to Thandi, transitioned in 1936.

Thandi Ntuli: Piano, Keyboards, Rhodes, Synth, Vocals, Programming, Backing Vocals. Sphelelo Mazibuko: Live Drums Keenan Ahrends: Guitar, Backing Vocals (track 8) Shane Cooper: Double Bass, Electric Bass, Backing Vocals (track 8) Nompumelelo Nhlapo: Percussion Mthunzi Mvubu: Alto Saxophone, Flute Ndabo Zulu: Trumpet Hope Masike: Spoken Word (track 1)