'We are putting together a beautiful production' — Brenda Mtambo chats about her concert at Playhouse Theatre

Afro-soul and jazz musician Brenda Mtambo is celebrating reaching a decade as an independent artist and is taking it all the way back where everything started for her. 

The KwaZulu-Natal-born star told TshisaLIVE the second leg of her A Decade Experience musical journey, which she said was a full-circle moment for her, would be staged on November 11 at the Playhouse Theatre in Durban. 

She said the concept was born from wanting to express her gratitude to her supporters who've been there over the years. 

“It's very hard to navigate the music industry, especially as an independent artist who's female. Also just a mere fact that we've overcome a lot of things, Covid-19 being part of it, and other hassles that one has to overcome, that's worth celebrating. But its more exciting bringing it home in Playhouse KZN because that is where my very first launch was when I launched my first album, so it's like full circle just to come home. I'm sharing the stage with a lot of artists back home, I'm bringing a choir that I used to sing with when I was still young. I'm bringing Afro-soul musician Ntencane as part of the celebration. So I just want to celebrate it with people from home.”

She promises the second leg of the show will be a spectacular one, with special focus on including artists from her province.

“We are putting together a beautiful production. I always say I want to be the artist when I'm put next to an international artist, I'm the same if not better. So I want to bring productions that are of real quality. So we are bringing one of good quality. We've got a 12-piece band and a choir, we've got old music celebrating new music. It's beautiful, it's an experience — just come and experience the music.”

Brenda shared on her X timeline that her grandmother will be seeing her perform live for the first time, making it a special moment for her. 

“It makes me so emotional that when I started she was there and she is very old — she's 93. God has kept her and I believe that she will be very happy to see me. And I have something really special planned to honour her on the day because my sound is inspired by gogo and I just want to celebrate her as well and honour her as someone who helped me a lot in life.” 

The musician said she was proud that over the years she was able to stay true to her sound, despite the challenges she faced. 

“When I came out my sound was very confusing to people. They didn't understand it because it was not a commercial sound and I remember saying I'm going to do me. That's who I am, what I stand for and what I know and I want to do. It is so beautiful and so excellent that everyone starts to gravitate towards it and I've achieved that. Even if I'm singing a gospel song. I gave my gospel songs the Brenda Mtambo version, you will just hear that's Brenda. I gave Afro-soul and jazz my own sound, and I think that was something that was very hard at first, but right now I think people are learning from it. To stay true to who you are and not to be shaken by what's trending because a lot of things that were trending at that time when I started out are not trending now.”