Zolani is The One Who Sings

AWARD-winning musician Zolani Mahola has opened up about the reasons behind the change in her performing name.

The former lead singer for one of South Africa’s most-loved Afrofusion bands, Freshlyground, has rebranded and is now known as The One Who Sings.

While Mahola had the new name for some time, news of her re-branding is fairly new to most South Africans.

“The name actually was given to me unintentionally by my fellow South Africans particularly those who speak vernacular languages,” she said.

“I have heard the phrase lo uculayo

(Xhosa for ”the one who sings”) for about 15 years now when people refer to me. There are a few elements to do with the name change and one is that it makes me feel more connected.

“There is a strange thing with being a celebrated person or someone who is in the public eye like I have been for about 20 years now. That thing is that people think there is a separation between myself and them.

“What my embracing of the name The One Who Sings does for me is that it closes that gap … it makes me as familiar as the baker or the spaza shop owner or the one who sings.”

She says her re-branding has also allowed her to detach from her persona as the lead singer of Freshlyground.

“It was not a driving force but it’s a happy by-product to being seen as a new entity,” she said. “I feel I have evolved so much as a human being that it naturally felt that a new name was a good start to a new chapter.”

The singer has been living with her new identity for the last two years.

“On social media I have been signing my posts and addressing my fans as The One Who Sings for nearly two years now. It just feels right to me.”

While changing a performing name could come with risks, such as losing popularity, the singer says she isn’t too concerned about that.

“I cannot hope for that but I can trust that the universe rewards efforts that come from an authentic place. Whether that reward comes in the form of greater popularity or greater satisfaction within myself… I’m happy with either but if I had to choose between them I would choose my own satisfaction.”

Asked if The One Who Sings was anything like the Zolani Mahola of Freshlyground that millions around the world knew, she says: “I’m the same person but there is more of me. I’ve gained more experience as a human and as an artist.

“The world of The One Who Sings is quite specific, though. It’s about storytelling and the aim is to highlight our connection to nature and also to express how sacred the time of childhood is.”

Under her new performing name, The One Who Sings has released her new single Wawundithembisele off her debut solo album Thetha Mama.

The song features Sun El, one of the most celebrated urban producers in South Africa, and Kenza; a dynamic producer from the El World music stable.

The melodic single was released last week, and the 40-year-old said she cannot wait for music lovers to hear it.

“I was inspired by my experience of Catholicism and I used the lens of a supplicant appealing to Mother Mary saying Wawundithembisile or You Promised Me.

“I’ve used the disappointment and despair of the character as a microcosm for the lack of faith so many of us have experienced in the wake of the pandemic in terms of old-world ideas around gender, race, and patriarchy among many.”

She says she also loved collaborating with Sun-El Musician on her new track.