Vans-wearing Black Label drinking millennial who can appreciate fine art and in the same breath do the Gwara Gwara to a pH set at Great Dane.
Johannesburg-born singer, songwriter and performer Langa Mavusa has finally released his long-awaited debut EP Liminal Sketches and he sure as hell didn’t disappoint. Packed with a neat six songs and with production from industry heavyweight Spoek Mathambo, the project is Langa announcing his arrival to the scene as the voice of a generation of Vans-wearing Black Label drinking millennials who can appreciate fine art and in the same breath do the Gwara Gwara to a pH set at Great Dane.
I had the pleasure of attending Langa’s launch for the EP on September 30th at a crowded rooftop venue on Commissioner Street, the stage was at eye level with the audience and his stage presence was that of a seasoned professional, reaffirming his superstar status. Having began his art education in high school at National School of the Arts in Johannesburg and furthering his studies at Rhodes University for five years studying Dramatic Arts and Contemporary Music.
He took it upon himself to study even further than that, enrolling at The University of Cape Towns’ South African College of Music to study Jazz Performance under the guidance of renowned Jazz artist and vocal teacher Amanda Tiffin.
His classic Jazz training comes through on tracks like “Love Six” a melancholic interlude about love had and love lost then can immediately jump on a song like “Libalele (pray)” an uptempo house song produced by the aforementioned Spoek Mathambo. He’s described the EP as “a cathartic expression written from a place of mourning”and you can tell from the carefully crafted lyrics that Langa was, for lack of a better term, going through the most when he started working on the EP over four years ago.
The EP is available on Soundcloud to stream for free check it out and check him live at the Thesis Social Jam Session on Sunday October 30th closing off the Redbull Amapiko Film Festival.
Featured Image / Anthony Bila
