There is a vibrancy that comes with new music voice Busiswa Gqulu, who is a clear and explosive example of what happens when you add poetry to music.Introduced to the wider South African music scene and the world on Zinhle’s worldwide hit “My name is”, the evocative and zestful artist has been called a ‘fresh voice that resonates with your inner soul’. Her powerful musical interaction of words on music has that emotive and captivating flair, resulting in a vibrant and astonishing effect.
Born in Eastern Cape City of uMtata in Norwood. Busiswa spent her early years under the care and guidance of her late mother and grandmother who were a great influence in shaping her strong personality. Busiswa was introduced to reading and books by her primary English teacher and beams when she still remembers her first book “Little Women”. Reading and writing became a great love for her and later led to her interest in poetry. She has been performing poetry for 10 years at poetry sessions,festivals, corporate & charity events. Most notably, she has twice been a headliner at Africa’s biggest poetry festival, the “Poetry Africa International Festival”, alongside poets from around the world.
This has seen her sharing the stage with the likes of Mak Manaka, Lebo Mashile, GcinaMhlophe and others. She makes for an articulate and witty MC. To form a career in the entertainment industry, she started experimenting with combining the spoken word & dance music in 2010 where she recorded with house music producers Sir Bubzin& DJ Clap. When these dj’s got signed to the KalawaJazzmee label, Busiswa’s voice was heard by one of the Director’s, mu- sic legend Oscar “Oskido” Mdlongwa.
In 2012 Busiswa was invited to the KalawaJazmee studios to record vocals for DJ Zinhle’s single titled “My Name Is’. Her catchy Xhosa clicks and rhythm, and the way she mingled English and the vernacular was a unique sound that was quickly embraced. This single became a worldwide hit & introduced Busiswa’s commanding voice to the music industry as a vocalist to watch. Audiences across borders were singing along. This opened up opportunity for her to travel around the continent to perform in countries like Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
This Is What Some Sources Have Had To Say About Her:
“Busiswa’s heartfelt messages are embodied in her pieces” – The Daily News “iThekuiyaziqhenyangalentokazi” – Isolezwe Newspaper
“When I saw her handling that audience, I thought to myself: ‘The future is here.’” – Prof. PitikaNtuli. Worldrenowned
Busiswa has also work with Uhuru, Mono T and Mapiano. “I enjoy music that makes me happy. I try to achieve that effect when I get involved in a song,” she says. Calling herself an advocate of Women’s rights as well, Busiswa adds that she also tries through her poetry to be positive all the time. I try to instill the need for women to take care of themselves all the time, to be strong and confident.”
Calling this form of expression a ‘fairly easy’ transformation and that she has al- ways been doing ‘rhyme and rhythm’, calling her “Poetry is my music”. “I do po- etry on beats,” she describes her form of artistry. “That’s the one thing that makes me different from most in the industry. I am a lyricist of sorts and I wannaconcen- trate on dance music for now. She continues her musical take-over with the torchy “Ngoku”, featuring Oskido&Uhuru. The vigorous and playful track from “Oskido’s I believe special edition” has filled the airwaves.
Awards
- CHANNEL O AWARDS 2014 : Most Gifted Dance – Ngoku
- MAIL AND GUARDIAN Top 200 Young South Africans 2014 Recipient
- Afrimma Awards 2015 : Best Female – Southern Africa
- MzansiKwaito Awards 2016 – Best Female
Nominations
- CHANNEL O AWARDS 2012 – (Most Gifted Dance – My Name is by DJ ZinhleftBusiswa
- SAMA AWARDS 2012 – RECORD OF THE YEAR – My Name is by DJ ZinhleftBusiswa
- METRO FM AWARD 2014 Best Dance
- AFRIMA 2015 Best Female (Southern Africa)
- MAMA 2015 Best Female
- SAMA 2013 nomination for Song of the Year
- METRO FM AWARD 2015 nomination for Video of the Year – Visa
CNN African Voices – My Africa is full of possibility
African Voices highlights the continent’s most dazzling trendsetters who create their own subcultures in areas such as travel, fashion, art, music, technology and architecture.
On 13/11/15 Busiswa woke up to the her CNN African Voices episode premier and was clearly overwhelmed by the magnitude of this milestone. She went on to twitter to share this sentimental statement with her fans :
“I cried this morning overwhelmed by life, then my special on CNN African Voices comes out and Im reminded WHY I do it.” – @BusiswaNgoku Twitter
Meet BusiswaGqulu, a unique blend of high-energy pop star – with an MTV Africa Award nomination – and a recognized poet” – CNN
Honey 3
Honey 3: Dare to Dance is a 2016 American dance film directed by Bille Woodruff and starring Cassie Ventura and Kenny Wormald. It is the third installment in the Honey film series. The film was released direct-to-DVD and made available on Netflix on September 6, 2016. Filming for Honey 3 took place in Cape Town, South Africa.
The story revolves around a dancer named Melea Martin (Cassie Ventura), who wants to put on a contemporary hip hop dance production of Romeo and Juliet to honor her mother, with boyfriend Erik Wildwood (Kenny Wormald), but her dreams of presenting the play through her prestigious school are crushed when she’s kicked out for failure to pay her tuition. Searching for a way to use her talents and inspire the community around her, she rents a failing theater in order to present the dance show, but conflicts between cast members threaten to bring the whole performance to a halt. The film, which is the second sequel to 2003’s Honey, has a tenuous link to its predecessors, with no recurring cast members, and the only canonical reference to the original film is that the main character Melea comes from Honey Daniels’ dance studio.
Busiswa’s seash single Lahla was sourced and licensed as part of the film soundtrack and set the scene for one of the dance scenes in the film allowing Busiswa’s brand to become part of a global conversation around the popularity of South African Dance Music.
