JAZZ vocalist Simphiwe Dana sings mostly in her native tongue, but you don’t need to have a grasp of Xhosa to appreciate the beauty of her singing. Clear and easy on the ear, her voice has a lilting, lullaby quality to it.I can put songs such as Undishiyile, taken from her second album, Kulture Noir, on repeat, close my eyes and be transported to the banks of a river, mesmerised by youthful memories of the gentle pull of water tugging on long, willow tendrils.I can just imagine how much more meaningful it must be to understand what she’s saying, which is why Pumla Dineo Gqola’s analytical biography of Dana, A Renegade Called Simphiwe, is such an instructive read.Gqola herself, like her subject, is a formidable woman: a professor of African literature and lecturer of related disciplines who’s "mind exhilarates", to quote from Prof Njabulo S Ndebele on the book’s front jacket.In capturing the contextual relevance of Dana as an artist, Gqola has gone to great lengths to intellectually ...
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