If the poet Nikki Giovanni is associated with poetry fused with jazz instrumentals, her 70s experiment has become something of a staple to a new generation of poets who straddle the worlds of jazz and verse. Natalia Molebatsi, from Tembisa on the East Rand, draws not only from Giovanni's playbook, but that of the jazz poet, Jayne Cortez. Her costumes and headgear reflect her belief that on stage, the artist performs not just their art, but their own appearance as well.
Molebatsi's performances are always rooted in her deep love for words, particularly the spoken word, and her deep voice booms gentle across the stage as she mesmerizes the audience. One of her most powerful poems has these words: i wish you whole as words water a flower beneath the yellow rays of yearnings beyond the reach of growling...
Then there's this line that brings her love for music full circle: hey music man promise you will live a long very long time and when you die one day like all natural beings do. ..
She has performed across the world, and was featured at the London Olympics in 2012. Two years later she was invited to perform at the Buenos Aires Book Fair. She then took her band to the Berlin Literature Festival. She has also performed in Ake and Lagos in Nigeria, and in Ramallah, Palestine.
"There's a magic that comes from performing on stages acres the world. Even when I perform for audiences who may not understand my SeTswana or even my English, there's a deeper connection that the music creates. This is why performing my poetry to music is an important part of my practice," explains Molebatsi.
Mingus
It's no surprise to discover that Molebatsi writes to the music of Charles Mingus. She says she is drawn by his ideas, his orchestration and above all his use of color in creating music that is at once deeply technical even as it is moving. Like Mingus, Molebatsi is a purist who knows how to charge her lyrics with both politics and love.
Over the past few years, Molebatsi has given some of her most inspired performances at Braamfontein's The Orbit. "I love The Orbit. It oozes an unapologetic jazz culture. As an artist, it is important that you know when you enter a space that all the elements are aligned. For me spaces aren't just physical,” says Molebatsi. She also loves the Johannesburg-based African Freedom station for what she calls “its authenticity and laid back mood”.
It should come as no surprise then that when Molebatsi puts together a band, the first person she calls is double-bassist Lex Futshane. He has that rich sonorous tone associated with Mingus. She also relies on guitarists Themba Mokoena and Jimmy Dludlu to accompany her in song. "I love how these musicians accompany my words. They make my work whole. I feel safe and can completely let myself go when working within the "musicianship" they provide".
Molebatsi says that she carries within her both the traditions of storytelling and those of resistance. "I grew up to the stories that my mother carried from her own childhood. These are the ones that turned me to the wonder of poetry. But I knew that the world was in need of changing, and so in my work are always the seeds of change, of revolution. Because we must leave this a better world than we found it," she says
This Singer/Poet/MC/Writer defies convention and soars beyond categories. Hear her especially on the magical song Soul Making in which she borrows, not from jazz but rock, to remind us that the line from Brenda Fassie to Grace Jones and Natalia Molebatsi is one etched in the spirit of fierce feminism and bucketloads of talent. On the song Sinamandla you can hear the influence of the church and the stage in her music.
Still only in her 30's, Molebatsi is one artist to watch.
There's a magic that comes from performing on stages acres the world.
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