Mwanjé creates a cosmic Afrofuturist world through sound and vision

Interview and Words by Nour Khairi

From Botswana, to Australia, to Zambia. Mwanjé is an artist whose always in transit – yet always connected and representative of her roots. Debuting in 2019 with The Divine, the singer is back in full swing with her latest project Wildones, featuring her sister Sampa the Great. Wildones is precursor to her upcoming afrofuturistic visual and sonic world. The contemporary artist truly doesn’t belong to any genre, instead, she creates her own trance-like brand of fusion, merging R&B, neo-soul and spoken word. A tension between the contemporary and the ritualistic is ever-present in her visuals, while her lyrics exist between rebellious youth and the quiet wisdom of a sage. The visuals to Wildones, premiered exclusively on Complex UK, bringing Mwanjé’s cinematic world to life. Her choice of visuals is not arbitrary, as she strives to bring pre-colonial traditions to light while connecting them to a Black feminist approach. Mwanjé takes a seat at the table of growing alternative and pan-Africanist community of artists reframing African creativity. We had the pleasure of tagging along for a moment.

So, tell us a bit about how you got started in music, what was your upbringing like?

Well, I come from a musical household, my oldest sister, my younger brother and I are all singers, dancers, writers. I started singing when I was six, started in the church, and I spent like twelve years in school choirs, and then a national youth choir in Botswana. I've done some musical theatre as well, I've just always been involved in the musical world. I didn't exactly think I would become a musician because it seemed it seemed really far off, until I moved to Australia, and I started doing backing vocals for my sister. Then I was like wow, this is real. This is a world I would love to be a part of. And that's what happened. The spark was reignited. And now I'm here, now I'm brave enough to do it by myself.

That’s amazing. Did you have any specific musical influences growing up?

Yeah, growing up I listened to a lot of Whitney, Mariah, like, the greats vocally, mostly through my mum. I also listen to a lot of African women singers that I really, really love. The Miriam Makeba’s, the Brenda Fassie’s, the Angélique Kidjo’s – we have our queens and our powerhouses. So it’s just a combination of all of that. But I also never felt that the music I wanted to create or gravitated towards fit into any of those boxes per se, so I had to look outside of that…also outside of myself, and what I thought it meant to be an African singer.

So how do you define being an ‘African’ singer for yourself?  

Well this is the first piece of work I really put myself into. This was created in Australia. At that time, it was just about telling the truth, about where I was in life, how I was feeling, it was really like an outlet for me. After the music was done, and I listened to it, not a lot of people would say: This is music from Botswana, or this music is from Zambia. So I was really determined to make that apparent through my visuals. I think that came through really well with Wildones. I have a single coming out very soon this month, called Call 2 The Diaspora. Some of the subject matters that I discuss have to do with who I am, where I'm from, the people I want to reach, the people I want to connect with. That's going to be carried on throughout my musical journey. I always want my visuals to represent who I am and where I'm from, no matter how the music sounds, because music is universal. I don't think anybody should feel they should create something that sounds like it comes from a specific country or region. That being said, I’m very excited to venture into Amapiano and Afrobeats, those genres that are more traditionally linked to Africa, and just do what I do best which is fusion.

Speaking of the visuals for Wildones, could you tell us a bit about afrofuturistic elements in the work, and what the concept of afrofuturism means for you?

I think there's lots of definitions and interpret interpretations of what afrofuturism is. To me, it’s a boundless expression of who we are, who we could be, the varied ways we'd like to present ourselves. It took a lot for us, as African artists, to come to a place where we were like, ‘this is us’, we put a stamp on it and we're dishing it out to the world. This is just the beginning. We're all just trying to express where we think we could go with this.

And artists from different regions express it in vastly different ways. In the visuals for Wildones, for example, there was almost a spiritual element to it. Is spirituality also significant for you?

Definitely. I came from a Christian household. My spirituality was always in the forefront of everything I did. I'm very interested in African spirituality, because I know it's been very demonised in the west and even in some of our own countries, it's not something that we've gotten to explore. I'm from Zambia which is a Christian nation. Certain things are not are not really explored. I just feel like, there have been so many false narratives. It’s worth just looking deeper, especially into your family and into your roots.

I love that. Just bringing this back to family, how was it collaborating with your sister, Sampa the Great?

 My sister and I have been singing and rapping together since we were children, putting shows together in our living room, and my grandma's backyard. That's just always been life for us. With Wildones, this was me venturing on into my own space. I'm definitely more alternative, more hippie, free-flowing. Wildones was initially a very free-flowing song. After having a talk with my production team, we decided to go in a different direction, we added a bit of Hip-hop and hints of Rock into it. Once she heard that, she was like, I have to be on it. Everything just kind of fell into place afterwards.

And how do you think your individual genres fuse together? If you even would say that you had a genre?

Neither of us identify with a single genre. We both fuse different genres together because we're influenced by so much. But I think I guess that's what, that's what made sense in the song. Both of us are so open to just like being led by the music and by the vibe or by the message, and that's what birthed this beautiful song.

Last but not least, what's next for you?

My next single Call 2 The Diaspora is more of a spoken word piece with vocals around it, and it's coming out on the 24th of March. So I'm excited about that. My EP is coming out soon too, but I can’t give away too much. I'm also excited to travel to new places, even just new experiences and being around different people and different energies can inspire your music and your writing.

Wildones Photoshoot Credits

Artist / Creative Director - Mwanjé Artist / Creative Director - Sampa The Great Production Director / Photographer - Atanga Mungandi Production Assistant - Nyawa Lungu Photography Post Production - Uncoura Studios Video Director : Cassim Mupela Video Post Production : Upgrade Zm Head Stylist - Danny Chanda Assistant Stylist - Priski Mulenga Outfits Designed by : Slickfit Apparel Make-up Artist - Akaketwa Namuchile Hair Stylist - Mumba Landula Run’dale Catering & Logistics - Alinedy Mwansa Catering - Mellisa Chulu Grip - Tony Mwewa Grip - Mukomanji Sichilongo Location Venue - Muka Munya Club & The Monkey Pools, Lusaka, Zambia.