For Simphiwe Dana, grief has been both a shadow and a guide. The surprise release of her new album, Moya, on her birthday on Friday, is an ode to her late mother.
The 46-year-old singer reflects on how confronting pain shaped this deeply intimate project.
I grew up free in the village. The whole space was our playground. We were self-sufficient we grew our own crops, and we had our own animals. We had everything we had fruit trees, we even had a mini vineyard, and wed go to the forest to gather wood. Wed also go to the river to fetch water. The only time wed go to the shops was for sugar. Not having shoes wasnt a measure of success or anything like that. So I grew up extremely free.
