Bongani Nicholas Ngomane: Liso The Musician’s Isibane turns grief, resilience and African musical traditions into a powerful celebration of healing, hope and light.

Isibane: Finding Light Through Music

There are performances that entertain, and there are performances that ask us to feel. Liso The Musician’s Isibane: The Light Musical Concert at the Malombo Theatre was both.

Presented as part of the Vavasati International Festival, the concert brought together jazz, Afro-soul, gospel and Xhosa traditional influences in a deeply personal musical journey. The production was presented by the South African State Theatre in association with Liso The Musician and Umjita Artivist Entrepreneurs.

From the opening song, “Akasoze Angishiye Nanina Ngamaxesha Onke”, Liso established a warm and melodic presence. Backed by a live band and six backing vocalists, she moved effortlessly between musical styles, creating a sound that was both contemporary and rooted in African musical traditions.

But Isibane was never simply about music.

Songs such as “Izingane”, written during the Fees Must Fall period, connected personal expression to wider social struggles. “Bamumbulele” confronted violence and loss, while “Sikhanyisele”, dedicated to her late daughter, brought the most vulnerable moment of the evening.

Liso became emotional while performing the song, and her husband came onto the stage to comfort her. It was a reminder that sometimes the boundary between artist and human being disappears. Her grief was not presented as spectacle; it became part of the truth of the performance.

The title song, “Isibane”, consequently carried profound meaning. Its message of moving from darkness towards light became a metaphor for the entire concert.

Yet the evening did not remain in sorrow.

“Sakhile” had audiences singing along, while “Kota Kota” brought the energy of township memory and childhood into the theatre. The collaboration with the Black Labone band worked particularly well, allowing Liso’s voice and the musicians to create an energetic musical conversation.

By “Umuntu Omdala”, the audience was stomping, clapping and responding to the performers. The final song, “Duzela”, brought the theatre to its feet.

What stayed with me was the contradiction at the heart of Isibane: the music speaks about suffering, but the audience dances. It speaks about loss yet creates joy.

Perhaps that is precisely what healing looks like.

Liso does not suggest that the darkness disappears. Instead, she uses music to find a way through it.

Isibane is therefore more than a concert. It is a musical testimony to grief, resilience, memory and hope.

And on this night, the light was unmistakably present.

Bongani Nicholas Ngomane
nicholasngomane87@gmail.com
072 700 6030
SA Theatre Reviews
http://www.satheatrereview.co.za

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I write reviews to document, reflect on and amplify the work of South African artists, while creating a record of how their stories, creativity and performances speak to our society.