Nhoza

ABOUT

Nomawthu (Nhoza) Sitsholwana is a singer/songwriter in a genre she likes to call ‘African 

fusion’, which personifies the blues, jazz, and traditional African music. She was born in a small 

village in the Eastern Cape outside King Williams Town and now resides in Cape Town.

In 2002 Nhoza left the village with her parents and moved to the big city of Cape Town where 

she met with a brilliant vocalist named Titi Tira from Gugulethu and a keyboard player Yeye. 

“They taught me how to work with a live band and knew they could trust me with harmonies due 

to my choir background and up bringing”. Her first show was at Maningburg Café at the 

Waterfront – not bad for a girl still in high school.

Nhoza, who proudly calls herself Unolali, which means village girl, uses her natural skill to 

combine her deep seated traditional African harmonies with strong blues and jazz influences 

which she has culminated over the years from the Cape Town music scene.

From singing in jazz clubs from the age of 15, Nhoza has gone on to craft a musical career of 

note. Sharing the stage with the crème of South African artists like Christof van der Berg, 

Richard Pryor, Riaan Smit, Dale Collins, Doc John, James Kibby, Sannie Fox, Guy Collins, Ann 

Jangle and many more. She has done studio sessions for bands like Freshly Ground, Crimson 

House and The Roots Grown Deep to name a few. She has also worked with the Vuyan Dance 

Company on their themed performance (Sophiatown) in Johannesburg.

She has travelled extensively around South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

She has performed at a number of festivals including STRAB and Up the Creek. For the last 10 

years she served as front-woman for her own band Black South Easter.

Now at the ripe age of 32, this unolali is ready to spread her wings as a solo artist and share her 

love for music with the world.

With her wide vocal range, beautifully developed into the rich soulful sound she radiates on 

stage today, Nhoza’s early days in the church choir seems like a life time ago, but she still 

recognizes this vital part of her history as a springboard for her musical career. She has put 

together a band of brass, bass, drums and keys to accompany her unique genre, although she 

regularly performs as a solo or duo act.

Just as the sound of guinea fouls and summer rain are 

signatory sounds of Africa, the same can be said for Nhoza’s 

soulful blues rock and jazz infused traditional music. This, and 

her astonishing vocal ability is the reason crowds tend to 

gravitate wherever Nhoza roams.

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