Brownswood signing IzangoMa new single
iza ngo ma it comes from mother
iza ngoma song come
ngo ma from mother
IzangoMa, a 15 piece experimental collective hailing from Pretoria, South African, today release a new single ‘Out Of The World’, the latest to be lifted from their forthcoming debut album ‘Ngo Ma’, out on May 26, 2023 on digital, CD and 12” double vinyl via Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings label (also home to Kokoroko, Doom Cannon and Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner). ‘Out Of The World’ is now available to stream on all platforms from here.
‘Out Of The World’ encapsulates IzangoMa’s message of gratitude to creation & motherhood, in a two-step and pantsula gravy train. Its elastic rhythm carries keyboards, the double & triple time ‘handclaps’ of the Roland TR-8, and all manner of percussive overload to ’the beautiful being’ that singer Sibusile Xaba shouts out at the track’s opening, in a style paying homage to the MCs of early hip hop. Mother on earth, mother in all. Songs for mothers worldwide, this is the message and the theme. Conception beyond; no deception in this pond. Ponder the quest, ride along, ignore the bumps and trample upon hindrances. Be free.
Although IzangoMa’s debut may only be reaching us in 2023, the avant-garde collective’s roots stretch back to the meeting of core members Sibusile Xaba (vox/keys) and Ashley Kgabo (synths/snare drum/drum machine) in 2016. It was a galvanising connection which allowed Xaba to begin cultivating a different side to his virtuosic talent, one at cardinal opposites with the familiar folk sound the largesse knew him for.
IzangoMa are Cosmic sgubhu with the alchemic powers of Sun Ra mixed with township styles ranging from pantsula to bubblegum. The deep-running, perpetual message of their music is wrapped up and delivered in layers of spiritual chants, healing harmonies, and all manner of electro-analogue sonics transmitted in a big band-style. ‘Ngo Ma’ - which loosely translates from Zulu to English as ‘by my mother’ - explores themes of Creation as seen through the all-knowing feminine energy that transcends time and space, standing assured in its position as the cornerstone of their foundation. This is rhythm music; it spills into crevices ever-evolving, and revolts against a revolution yet to be finalised.
The ensemble is a link-up of Mozambican and South African musicians - says Sibusile; “I had this idea of working with my students from Mozambique. When I first met them [during exchange workshops], they were young men. We’d return every year to find these great human beings growing into these phenomenal musicians. We felt like it would be nice to incorporate them into this thing that we were doing.” The future-forward ‘Ngo Ma’ is a collective effort through and through - while the duo of Xaba and Kgabo forms the backbone, it’s the kaleidoscopic collective which feeds into the cycle that expands each time, adding something new on each iteration.
It’s never effort; it’s always joy,” says Ashley, reflecting on the fluid nature of how ideas find them while they’re jamming, to which Sibusile adds: “Even this idea of this music being a voice of remembering the feminine energy — that wasn’t there. It developed as the music was leading us. And funny enough, every song is talking about mothers. This wasn’t something that we planned.”
‘Out Of This World’ follows previous single releases ‘Ngo Ma’ (an aide-mémoire to pay homage to our parentages; remembering that they are living ancestors, the first and direct link to The Creator), ‘City Lights’ (a cathartic call to tend to our roots in the face of the loneliness of modern life) and ‘Tribute To Johnny Dyani’, which hails the legendary Blue Notes bassist & Don Cherry-collaborator for his musicality but also for his efforts to promote emancipation as a member of a mixed race band under apartheid.
