A Note to Taiwa, A Reflective Essay on the Music of Moses Taiwa Molelekwa is a celebration of Molelekwa’s music and legacy on SA music industry Phehello J. Mofokeng.
The book’s enquiry focuses on Molelekwa’s first album – the aptly titled; Finding One’s Self – it then focuses on what Mofokeng calls Molelekwa’s swansong, the height and epitome of his musical achievements, a song called Nobuhle. Finally, this ‘sonic inquiry’ is extended to Molelekwa’s stylistics affecting kwaito music in the 1990s and 2000s until today, in a genre known as Amapiano. Mofokeng tries to explain that Molelekwa’s music points to something bigger than himself – that music was a way of “pouring his angst and ecstasy on the piano.”
Click here to watch a discussion of the book between PJ Mofokeng and Sewela Langeni held at Book Circle Capital on Saturday 27 November 2021.
Copies of the book are available in store and online.