'I’m good, love, better than good' - musician Nakhane talks to Simphiwe Dana about her latest release, Bamako

Prior to any announcements about her latest release, Simphiwe Dana posts several photographs of herself posed in Bamako, the capital of Mali. A calculated guess: Dana is in Bamako recording her next album. Or perhaps she’s in the midst of some sort of collaboration; maybe something artistic, maybe something political. 

In 2015, she travelled to the headquarters of the African Union to participate in the African Union Agenda 2063. This wasn’t an unlikely guess. But with every photograph posted, fans become reservedly excited. Speculative even. It had been five years since the release of Firebrand, an album that ushered in with it a somewhat "new" Simphiwe, both aesthetically - I’m careful here - and musically. Her attitude to her image became softer, more playful. Perhaps a little too playful for fans who had committed themselves to the "sister-of-the-soil" image of her first two albums, Zandisile and The One Love Movement On Bantu Biko Street. 

                                                       Simphiwe Dana (Photo: Supplied)