Langa Mavuso’s voice is soothing to the soul.
And that's exactly what he wants people to feel when they listen to his music.
The 23-year-old signed with Black Coffee’s Soulistic Music in August last year and officially released his first single, Sunday Blues, in December.
“I think the most important part for me is always to capture a feeling or moment and I think people love music because they relate to something that they feel in it,” he said.
For him to be discovered by the international DJ, Mavuso posted a video that he had done for UCT Live Room on social media.
“It trended for a while and I think Black Coffee’s little sister forwarded the video to him, and he sent a message saying he would like to work with me and, days later, we were in studio together recording a song for his album.”
Mavuso then shared more music with Black Coffee that he had been working on and within a week, he was offered a contract.
“We had started the conversation around March/April last year and through that process, we came up with something that we were both happy with.”
Mavuso, a music graduate from UCT, was at the time in negotiations with another record company but instead chose to go with Soulistic Music because it would offer him better attention as an artist.
“I wanted to be with a smaller label where I could get the attention and know my team, and not be under a big corporation where there are a lot of moving parts and I am unaware of how everything works. I like smaller labels where I can communicate my ideas and thoughts directly to the people who are working on them and collaborate in the execution of everything.”
He discovered his voice at the age of 8 and by the age of 12, he started to hone his skill - and that is what pushed him to go to an arts school (National School of the Arts) for high school.
MUSICAL MEMORIES: Langa Mavuso sees his voice as a vessel to help make memories for people. Picture: Supplied.
“Music has always been a part of my life. I studied drama for three years and music the final two years. At UCT I studied jazz, with my main focus being jazz voice. I really started to focus on honing the skill when I was around 12. After school, I still wanted to further my knowledge and practise of music. It’s always been in my life and I am constantly working on bettering myself.”
"Sunday Blues is the first official single under Soulistic. It's the first I've ever done with so much attention and pushed on a mass media level. I have recorded music previously and shared it through the internet, but this is the first under an official label that has had radio play and promotion.”
With him working on a full album he hopes to release before the year ends, Mavuso wants to make sure his music is able to help people reflect.
“Also for the enjoyment something that becomes a soundtrack to a moment in their life. I think that's more satisfying - to hear someone say: '* played this when I met my boyfriend' or 'I’m going through a hard time and this saved me'."
He said for him, it was about the music becoming more than just something that he had made and rather something that was “owned” by other people. “And I was simply a vessel of it. So I just hope that people can find love and feeling from the music,” he said.
Mavuso wants to create music that will “stay beyond my own mortality”. The Joburg-born and bred musician said he wanted to share a narrative that hadn't been encapsulated in the way that he was doing.
“I hope I would have created something that resonates with people, something that will allow me to explore my other interests, that will allow me to travel and meet different people, see different cultures and to share the experience of the music and the story in the continent and globally. That people will gravitate towards and love and share it with all those around them.”
@mane_mpi