Big move! Nakhane Touré opens for Erasure in Berlin

SAMA award-winning musician Nakhane Touré flew the South African flag high in Berlin this week when he took a break from recording his latest album to share a stage with 80s music sensations, Erasure.

Nakhane, who has been based in Europe for the last few months, was approached by executives at international record label BMG a few weeks ago to perform at an intimate music show featuring Erasure on Monday.

"RTE (European culture broadcaster)  have a monthly live event. They've had artists like Blondie before and this time they had Erasure. One of the seniors at BMG I was meeting with while in Berlin suggested that I open for Erasure at this particular event. I didn't really think that it was going to happen. A few days later it was confirmed," Nakhane explained to TshisaLIVE.

He said that he "loved every second of the show" and felt a connection with the audience.

"The show went really amazingly. The audience were very receptive, and that's always tricky when they don't know who you are. When I play shows in South Africa, I play to passionate people. People are there because they love the music and they really show it. Playing overseas is a little different because I think my music is slightly different: The rhythms, the way I sing and the way I perform. But at the end of the day it's a gig like any other, but on a different continent," he said.

He said that he hoped this would inspire other local artists to push forward with their plans to perform overseas and work hard.

Nakhane is no stranger to working hard and has in recent months had to juggle the demands of recording new music with a starring role in the film The Wound and the release of his debut novel, Piggy Boy's Blues.

Despite this, Nakhane said that he was terrible at multi-tasking between the projects and often had to shut off one medium while focusing on another.

"When I'm busy to with one medium, that's what I concentrate on, and I shut everything else out and finish that particular project. I'm not a very good at multi-tasking. So I suppose that's how all of these things end up happening: through commitment," he said.

The Wound made its African premiere at the prestigious Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) over the weekend and Nakhane walking away with the Best Actor award at the festival.