She entered the music industry with a bang in 2013.
Her bold voice made waves with the hit song Wena in which she was featured by Heavy K.
The African house songstress brought everyone to the dance floor whenever the song would go on.
Nompumelelo ‘Mpumi’ Mzobe kept the momentum going with her debut album titled The Birth of Mpumi, which earned her a MetroFM Award nomination and another hit song titled Somandla.
From time to time, Mpumi would collaborate with legendary Kwaito star Professor on her songs, which in turn nurtured a strong bond between the two.
Now she’s back again with another song, Mina Nawe, with Professor from her third album, Abantu dropping on the first day of December.
“People in the streets usually rave about my collaborations with Professor so it was expected for us to drop something together if I’m recording an album. He’s been on all my albums as this is my third,” she says.
“I met Professor right at the beginning of my career, I had just released Wena with Heavy K and I met up with him at a gig in East London. We were booked together at that gig by Kalawa and the warmth he gave me was different. He assumed the big brother role, making sure that I’m well taken care of in the industry and opening himself up to helping me learn the ropes of the music space. Ever since, we have been good friends and he has always been keen to work with me on songs because I mean, he’s a hit-making machine,” she tells Drum.
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In almost every song that the pair have done together, there is an element of isbhinca, which is a type of music infusing cultural and traditional elements borrowed from the genre of Maskandi.
If anything, this common sound they have is what keeps drawing them to each other in studio as they push their language through it.
“Me and him have that isbhinca thing going on so when we’re in studio, we kind of connect on that basis of just pushing music in the language that our people in the townships and the villages, the people that we make music for, can hear. We make sure that they feel represented. We strive to sing in the language that they understand.”
Although we haven’t heard from Mpumi and Professor in a while, they both never stopped cooking music.
In fact, Mpumi’s upcoming album has been in the making for over two years.
“I am cooking, I am storing, I’m evaluating and choosing what sound works at the time, and I’ve been at it for a while. Post Covid, things have been slow, and I just folded into a shell as well, making sense of everything that had happened - bookings were so slow and the music scene was also changing, Amapiano was taking off, so I was trying to assess and make sense of how the industry was going. I just resorted to making music and just watching from the sidelines, but people have been telling me that they miss my music,” says the singer and songwriter.
With the push from her supporters, Mpumi has decided to channel herself back into releasing music.
In her new music, she has sent down the ladder for upcoming artists to climb just as it was done for her.
“I’ve collaborated with fresh voices of people who are unknown but are equally talented as everyone else if not exceedingly. I also worked with producers that understand the music trends of today. My album is an Afro house album, but I’ve infused Amapiano in some songs just to give people a progressive sound.”
In as much as she’s fearfully wondering how the sound is going to be received, she also reminds herself that she didn’t rob anyone or short sell anyone but has put out the best version of herself currently. She hopes that everybody sees that and that they see the truth in it and relate with it because it’s her truth.
The biggest reward thus far in her musical journey has been being known in the most remote places in the country.
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Whenever the going gets tough in anyway though, she shares with Drum that her late father’s words are the ones that carry her through.
From being called uMzwilili (hummingbird) by her father at a very young age, Mpumi was always affirmed of her ability to sing.
“When I wrote my first song, Wena that a lot of people identified me for in the industry, I speak about this. If you listen to that song, I sing about my dad. The lyrics are ‘Mina kwash' ubaba wami, wathi wena mtanami ngiyazidla ngawe, uThix' ungiphil' umzwilili wami (My dad once told me that he’s proud of me and that God gave him his very own hummingbird with me)’. Those words affirm me.”
When she was growing up in the KZN village of iNdwendwe, the now 41-year-old was known to be that child who sings in church and at school, so her father’s peacock walk out of pride always warmed her heart.
“When I did that song in 2012, I basically was saying that I am what my dad said I am. I am a musician; I am songbird and I put it out there and the world received it.”
A few days ago, Mpumi recorded another song about her father as she believes that wherever he is, he’s still watching over her with pride. The countdown to the releases now begins.
