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Tea and soul were served at Gabriella’s Tea Room in Parktown North on Wednesday when Amanda Black shared her latest single to an exclusive audience of media and her loved ones.
Dressed in African print, the artist insisted on stopping at each table to greet and break bread before talking about her new offering and her partnership with Sony Music Africa.
Thandwa Ndim, she told us, pays homage to survivors of gender-based violence.
The single offers a double reading – one tells of the reality of women who stay in abusive relationships, be they romantic or platonic and narrates some of the reasons they do. The second speaks to women loving themselves first.
Black describes the song as being close to home for her as she has lived through the reality of her loved ones who were in toxic and abusive relationships.
“I really cried and went through a lot when writing this song. I personally have not directly found myself in such a situation, but I know personal stories about my friends and family who have stayed and I had always struggled to understand why they stayed ... But I have come to learn and understand that many of us who empathise with survivors and victims of gender-based violence are sometimes insensitive and impatient with our sisters and friends. I am not trying to speak for anyone – I’m simply adding my voice through song to the movement.”
Black is not only honouring women and the #MeToo movement, but she is also celebrating the journey of owning her own record label, Afro Rockstar, and her new partnership with Sony.
“It was important for me as a black woman to own my craft and get more involved in the business side of things.”
She could not say when the full album would drop, only that “it is on the way”.
