JUDITH SEPHUMA

Judith Sephuma’s standing as South Africa’s pre-eminent female vocalist is confirmed yet again with the release of her third solo album.

CHANGE IS HERE is nothing short of a musical tour de force that skillfully combines a graceful sophistication with enough playfulness and whimsy to deliver a thoroughly listenable offering that never strays from Sephuma’s African roots. And like its predecessors, the latest from this multi award-winning artist will find a dominant (and lasting) place in the music collections of fans of quality music throughout the country, and beyond its borders.

Taken together, they reveal the sound of an artist in full flight.

“With maturity comes growth and with that the confidence to try out different things with the music,” Sephuma reveals. “We had great fun in the studio, playing around with which direction each song should go and creating something special for each one.”

The starting point for CHANGE IS HERE was a desire by Sephuma to return to her Sepedi roots, making the album something of a homecoming for the girl from Polokwane who has turned into the flagbearer for soulful jazz that has its roots firmly planted in African soil.

Sephuma relates how many of her fans had pressed her to record an album of songs in the vein of the Sepedi ‘Mme Motswadi’, one of the tracks off 2005’s ‘New Beginnings’.

Fittingly, joining Sephuma in this journey is producer, Selaelo Selota – who helmed her 2003 debut ‘A Smile, A Cry, A Dance’ and who swiftly gathered the creative elements to assist the singer in executing her vision. The result is nothing short of mesmerising – and choosing to work with Selota was stroke of genius. The results of Sephuma and Selota’s longstanding creative relationship are easily heard on CHANGE IS HERE: the album moves along at a graceful pace, revealing an increasing number of sonic treasures with each listen.

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