About
Xhanti Nokwali is a South African vocalist, composer and storyteller whose work is rooted in his lived reality and the questions he carries about identity, place and the present moment. His practice unfolds through voice, listening and encounter, drawing audiences into spaces that are at once intimate, searching and communal.
He has recently appeared on stages such as the Kirstenbosch Summer Concert alongside Msaki and the ALTBLK Continua Collective, as well as Jazz in the Lights Johannesburg at the Joburg Zoo. Internationally, he has performed in Salvador, Brazil at the Global Artivism Convening and Festival da Cidade da Música da Bahia. His work continues to unfold through a series of ALTBLK residencies, as well as residencies in Kenya and Réunion Island that followed his involvement in Swahili Encounters in Zanzibar.
His collaborative practice moves across disciplines and generations, including ongoing creative exchange with Msaki, Muneyi and Leomile, as well as projects such as Sizangengoma with IZANUSI and History Re-imagined with the Ngqoko Women’s Ensemble. He also features on “UBUNTU”, a work by Edgar Muzah alongside Joliza Bhaca.
Xhanti Nokwali stands as a storyteller of his time, working through sound, story and presence to hold space for how we arrive, remember and meet one another.
Movements
- Selected to showcase at Fête de la Musique Johannesburg (2024).
- Invited performer at the International Music Imbizo (2024), Durban, and the Earthbox Grand Finale (2024), Stellenbosch.
- Recipient of the Siqaqambisa Ubugcisa Fund from the Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council, supporting the development and mobility of new work.
- Undertook an independent interprovincial touring circuit through self-produced showcases, building national presence and audience.
- Performed at Jazz in the Lights Johannesburg (Joburg Zoo), expanding visibility on major urban stages.
- Featured at the Kirstenbosch Summer Concert alongside Msaki and the ALTBLK Continua Collective.
- Participated in a series of ALTBLK residencies, alongside further residencies in Kenya and Réunion Island following Swahili Encounters (Zanzibar).
- International performances in Salvador, Brazil, including the Global Artivism Convening and Festival da Cidade da Música da Bahia.
- Currently developing and independently recording Indlu Ka Saqhuma, an upcoming EP.
Projects
Umthombo — Debut Album
Umthombo is a deeply spiritual debut that breathes through ancestral rhythm and modern reflection. Produced by Nduduzo Makhathini and featuring collaborators like Asher Gamedze, the album reaches toward the sacred, drawing from jazz, folk and traditional isiXhosa idioms to form a sonic well of renewal. Across its tracks, the music speaks of listening, healing and remembering; it calls us to attune to the harmony beneath life’s disorder, to the continuity of spirit that outlives pain.
At its core, Umthombo is a meditation on the cycles of loss and return that define African experience. The work is political, spiritual and intimate all at once, mourning what has been taken while celebrating what endures. Voices, drums and guitars converge in ceremony, evoking the land, the ancestors and the unseen energies that guide collective transformation. In its lament and its joy, the album reclaims music as a space of resistance and belonging.
More than a collection of songs, Umthombo is a statement of becoming, a document of healing and reclamation. It stands as a meeting place between the traditional and the contemporary, between the personal and the communal. Through it, Xhanti Nokwali positions himself as both vessel and messenger, reaching into history’s wounds to draw out water for those still seeking wholeness.
Indlu Ka Saqhuma — Forthcoming EP
Indlu Ka Saqhuma is a body of work currently being finalised. The project unfolds as an intimate sonic offering rooted in voice, a quiet negotiation between inheritance and selfhood.
Sung in isiXhosa, the music moves through questions of lineage and tradition, holding the tension between what is carried and what is being shaped in the present. Rather than looking back, the work sits inside a living relationship with culture, allowing it to breathe, shift and speak within contemporary experience.
Developed in the rural landscape of Entseleni eNgcobo in the Eastern Cape, where it draws from personal history and ancestral ground. The title honours Nokwali’s maternal great‑grandfather, Saqhuma, whose presence continues to inform the emotional and philosophical landscape of the work.
Indlu Ka Saqhuma is nearing completion, with its release to be announced.
Contact & Socials
For sponsorships, partnerships, bookings or media requests, please reach out via email.