With a new year just days away, The Soil member Ntsika Ngxanga’s coming solo album, a literal manifestation of his dreams, might come in handy in 2019.
Although his work with The Soil has proven he is a talented artist, Ngxanga’s album, I Write What I Dream, will take you on a personal journey into his dreams.
From the lyrics, the melody and right through to who was featured in the particular song, all 14 songs on I Write What I Dream came in the form of dreams, the singer said.
“Whenever I dream of a song, all the people I need to sing it with will be in that dream," he says.
"When I wake up and pitch it, as soon as we get into the studio it happens organically, and we just tweak it here and there when necessary.”
Ngxanga rose to fame with The Soil in 2011 after the group released their debut album, boasting an authentic a cappella sound that won the hearts of many a soul music fan.
The group, comprising Ngxanga and his brother, Lupindo (Master P), Buhle Mda and Samkelo “Samthing Soweto” Mdolomba, who has since left the group, met in high school and together pursued their shared interest in music.
“Master P and I were already singing when we met Buhle and Samkelo,” he said.
Ngxanga is both writer and vocalist for The Soil, and reckons a solo career will not get in the way of his work with the group.
“My dreams are vivid so if a song is meant for The Soil and not just Ntsika it will be clear in the dream. I will continue to write for and sing with The Soil while pursuing my solo career.”
Affirmation that it was time for him to pursue a solo career came through a dream, he said.
“This particular dream was unique because it was just me, my grandfather and great-grandfather without Buhle and Master P.
“We weren’t speaking in the dream, but there was a song playing in the background and that’s when I knew it was time for my solo career,” Ngxanga said.
That song is titled Sabela and will be featured on Ngxanga’s album.
The singer launched his solo career by releasing the single, Awundiva, with Port Elizabeth-born singer Vusi Nova in September.
“From when I received this song in my dreams, it was clear it would work perfectly with Vusi Nova and it would not have worked out well with anyone else,” Ngxanga said.
He said he often tried to cheat his dreams by giving a song he had dreamed for one artist to another but it never worked out.
“They listened to the song and loved it but they found that it did not resonate with them and that was a wake-up call for me to know that things that come from a spiritual place are not to be changed in the physical realm.”
He said his dreams were becoming clearer as he grew older.
“My earliest memory of dreaming of a song was when I was six years old and, in the dream, I was shirtless in a stadium and singing a song that [sounded] like kwaito.
“When I woke up and told my parents about the dream they dismissed it – you know how parents are,” he said.
“But my mother could tell I truly had a gift because she was also someone who had predictive dreams.
“Even in university the dreams would come to me in an exam room and I would be busy writing a song in the middle of an exam.
“At some point I cried, feeling I was in the wrong place, but because at home I was taught never to start something and not finish it, I finished my diploma in chemical engineering,” he said.
I Write What I Dream will be released in February.