Bokang Ramatlapengat Hugh's Jazz Club

Bokang Makhotso Ramatlapeng is a vocalist, songwriter, composer, and storyteller whose music sits at the intersection of African tradition, jazz, and gospel. Previously performing under the name Her Own Skin, a declaration she adopted in her early twenties as a commitment to artistic authenticity in an industry that often demands conformity. This was not just a stage name; it was and remains a philosophy that shapes every note she sings and every stage she steps onto.

Born in Mapetla, Soweto and raised in Naturena (Jazz it out). Bokang is the last born of four siblings (Escopi). She lost her mother young and was raised by her elder sisters, whose sacrifices became the subject of her most celebrated work. Her 2022 single Bana Ba Nthabiseng, a tribute to older siblings who step up when parents cannot, is named for her late mother Nthabiseng. It won Best Jazz Song at the 7th Mzantsi Jazz Awards, a public vote category, making it a recognition that came directly from audiences. She has described the song as something she had never heard before: a piece dedicated entirely to older siblings. This instinct for unexplored emotional terrain defines her as a songwriter.

Bokang discovered her voice in 2010 when a choir teacher recognised her as a soloist at an audition for the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein. She was accepted and it was then that music shifted from something she did casually to something she pursued with discipline (Musicist). At the National School of the Arts, she trained under critically acclaimed musician, vocalist and educator Omagugu Makhathini, who taught her the African science of singing, and Njabulo Nele, who built her performance confidence. While there, she landed a role in the main school production and sang in the choir at Hugh Masekela's Songs of Migration production (Jazz it out)

Her sound is rooted in three traditions she has named explicitly: gospel, the first musical form she sang: African music, which she explored at Phela Re Phele Musical Arts Academy and which she has described as underrepresented in documentation and archives; and jazz, which she studied formally at the Tshwane University of Technology. She places herself in a lineage that runs from Miriam Makeba and Busi Mhlongo through Thandiswa Mazwai and Zoe¨ Modiga: women who put African languages and sounds onto world stages on their own terms. Her stated mission is to do the same for Sotho music.

Bokang is a South African Jazz Basadi in Music Award nominee. In 2023, she was selected as the vocalist for the National Youth Jazz Band at Makhanda, one of the most selective jazz development platforms in the country, which brings together the top 350 young jazz musicians in South Africa through a rigorous audition process. She has collaborated with some of the most respected names in contemporary South African jazz, including Nduduzo Makhathini, Marcus Wyatt, Khaya Mahlangu, Sphelelo Mazibuko, Romy Brauteseth, Vuma Levin, and Thabiso Mfana, as well as frequent creative collaborator Musa Nhlapho, whose neo-soul and hip-hop background pushed her to understand music as a dynamic and evolving space. She has performed at the Market Theatre, the University of Johannesburg, the Arts Jazz Festival, Standard Bank Youth Festival, and the TUT Arts Festival, with her work taking her to stages in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Grahamstown, and Stellenbosch.

Her profile has grown alongside her local one. In 2025, she featured on Rain, a collaboration with revered UK house producer Charles Webster and South African producer EMAMKAY, released via Stay True Sounds, described as emotionally immersive and sonically daring, with her vocals characterised as deep, resonant, and soul-stirring (Urban Lifestyle). The collaboration signals the kind of cross-continental reach that positions Bokang not only as a South African voice but as part of a wider global jazz conversation.

In December 2024, she performed at uManyano Lwe Jazz's fourth edition in Johannesburg, sharing the lineup with Nduduzo Makhathini, Ndabo Zulu, Mbuso Khoza, Herbie Tsoaeli, Siya Makuzeni, Linda Sikhakhane, Sibusile Xaba, and the Sun Xa Experiment. Her inclusion was described by the festival as a deliberate curatorial choice, placing emerging voices alongside established ones to insist on a jazz ecosystem that does not simply repeat itself.

On 5 December 2025, she released her debut album Qalo independently. The album had been years in the making and long anticipated by those who had followed her journey. Qalo means the beginning in Sesotho, and the album is exactly that: not an arrival, but a declaration of intent. The tracklist includes Rain, Chant Song: Bakoena Ba Nkopane, Chant Song: Part Two, The Plea, Pina, Poko, and the title track Qalo, a body of work that draws together the African, jazz, and gospel threads she has been weaving since her earliest performances. The album arrives as evidence that the years of building, performing, and preparing were not preamble. They were the work.

Beyond performance, Bokang is also a writer and podcast host. During lockdown in 2020, she launched the Her Own Skin series, a platform for women in the creative industry to share knowledge, name difficult truths, and create a record of what it actually means to build a career in South African music. She describes her work not as motivational but as healing. "I want to heal, and I think my work is to do that. I am born to do that."

Doors open at 18:00

The show begins promptly at 19:30

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www.hughs.co.za

Tickets are non-refundable