Desire Marea’s Genre-Melting Music Stirs South Africa, and the World
nytimes.comOn a crisp Thursday morning hours before Desire Marea’s performance at the Transform Festival in Leeds, England, earlier this month, the South African songwriter sat in Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve, communing with his Zulu ancestors.
It’s a practice he honed through his training as a sangoma, a traditional spiritual healer, and it is essential to his craft. “There’s no music if my ancestors aren’t invited and honored,” Marea, 32, said in a video interview from his hotel room later that morning.
Quick with a smile and clad in a simple gray T-shirt and plain shorts from the South African designer Lukhanyo Mdingi’s 2023 collection, Marea was far more soft-spoken than he is onstage, where his high-drama performances and penchant for experimental fashion speak loudly.
Marea sings in English and Zulu; his music melds styles (funk, Afrobeat, electro, experimental pop) and traverses topics including queerness, Zulu culture and history.
