Masandi’s latest EP Kaleidoscope has been hitting the right notes with fans and critics alike. The project has amassed over 750K streams across platforms and proves how valuable tapping into different parts of your creativity can be.
In Kaleidoscope, Masandi explores his spirituality, an avenue he may not have always embraced in his music as a recording artist but has been an integral part of the tapestry of his life growing up as a child to a pastor in KwaZulu-Natal.
The transition into inspirational music had been an important step for the young musician on his journey but it wasn’t until after surviving a car accident that he considered this more intimately.
‘Ithemba’ was released in 2020, serving as a reminder to keep faith strong during a bleak time in the world’s history. Masandi reimagines the classic South African hymn ‘Ithemba Lam’, with a fresh and galvanising approach and it set the temperature of the rest of the seven-track EP with songs including ‘Ngibonga Wena’ and ‘Noma Kunzima’.
Produced by well-known Gospel, Afro-pop artist and producer Mojalefa Mjakes Thebe, Kaleidoscope is a guiding light of what contemporary South African praise and worship might look like, with Masandi as the torchbearer. The music he makes now has also shifted his who he is as an artist:
The type of music I make now is more meaningful and has more substance than before. When I’m within my creative process, I go a bit more deeper than I used to. The aim is to convey a message that moves the listener both emotionally and spiritually.
The singer and actor has been nominated for two awards at the 2022 Crown Gospel Music Awards for ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best Gospel Video’ for ‘Ithemba’. As an artist who has newly ventured into a different musical space, to have the community embrace him in this way is no mean feat. Of his two nominations the singer has expressed his gratitude and the gravitas, for him, of winning the awards:
It would mean a lot to me, it would mean recognition of this gift God has given me and that my music is making impact. That I am on the right path.
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