Way ahead of her peers

The big Interview: It's a sad thing when artists don't know their own capabilities and talents, but it's even worse when they don't know how much power they hold over their audiences.

Simphiwe Dana is one such artist. With three critically acclaimed albums under her belt, she still questions the support and appreciation for her music.

"I'm an old soul; I know I don't think like my peers," the 30-year-old said during a lunch break at Campus Square, Melville, in Johannesburg. She is in a flowing black dress with polka dots, flip flops and sunglasses pushed up on her head.

We've spent the morning watching her in rehearsal for the recording of her live concert DVD on Wednesday with a 25-piece orchestra and a band.

The prawns and white wine she orders for lunch are well deserved after a morning of hard work tweaking songs for her sell-out show.

"I plan to do another DVD next year. It's going to be even bigger than this one. I can't give too much away but I have funding and a venue in Cape Town," she said.

Cape Town is her new home. She had lived in Johannesburg for 10 years. It was in Jozi that she was involved in a horrific car accident, after which she needed reconstructive facial surgery, became a mother and released the platinum-selling Zandisile. During this time too, The One Love Movement On Bantu Biko Street became a gold-seller, and she separated from the father of her two children, Zazi, 7, and Phalo, 5.

Their relationship is not off-limits but is of no interest to her anymore. Why would it be, anyway? She's now dating an American named Hessel GT Pole. She made special mention of him in her acceptance speech at the Metro FM awards ceremony last weekend. She won awards for best female artist and for best contemporary jazz album, Kulture Noir.

After the car accident and her separation, the six-times SA Music Awards winning Dana said she decided to focus on "staying as positive as possible" .

"I choose to be happy and positive, despite the fact that I still don't get enough gigs. I've had promoters tell me 'We can't pay you as much as other artists because you are not as good', and that really, really hurts. I know I'm good, but things like this discourage people like me who are trying to carry on a legacy left by our mothers," she said firmly.

Before our lunch break, in an SABC studio, where the rehearsals had been going on for over an hour and a half, biscuits, cups of coffee and bottles of energy drink are all over the floor. The orchestra and band have been struggling to click on the heart-wrenching Iliwa lam (loosely translated: "You are my rock") from The One Love Movement On Bantu Biko Street.

"I need the treatment to be a little more romantic because this is a sad love song," she tells someone on her production team. As if to show her back-up singers how it's done, she belts out a note. It leaves everyone frozen for seconds .

This is pure talent. The timbre of her voice is so rich that you feel she could sing for days on end without wearing it out. When the band, back-up singers and the orchestra all finally find unison she nods imperiously while clenching her microphone.

After watching rehearsals, you know exactly how much sweat went into the kind of vocal brilliance the crowd at the Lyric Theatre experienced on Wednesday evening.