ZONKE Dikana, whose new album Ina Ethe has put her up there with the best, says the secret of her success was to have abandoned house music for soul - her original sound.
She signed on with house and kwaito label Kalawa in 2007 and released the dance album Life, Love and Music.
"Something was missing when I released the dance music," Zonke said " It was not me. My late father, jazz drummer Viva Dikana, kept asking: 'Are you sure this is who you want to be?'
"Now I am doing what I have always wanted to do. I feel I have been away from myself and now I am back."
Zonke said insinuations that her popular hit from the album Jiki Izinto bears a relationship to late Afro-pop star Paul Ndlovu's classic Nita Fama Moyeni, is not true at all.
" I composed the song when I was feeling down, not having recorded for four years after Life, Love and Music . I felt I should use lyrics in a language that has been distant to me. I chose Xitsonga instead of isiXhosa, which has always been a part of me.
" I took the common phrase famba moyeni ( walk in the sky ) because I believed that one day I would walk in the sky, achieving musical success . And that is happening with my new album. I am pleasantly surprised by the positive response from my old fans from the dance music years as well as the new ones," said the seven-months pregnant Zonke.
She is romantically linked to attorney-turned-recording label owner Tumi Mokoena. He owns TMP Records through which Zonke's new album was released.
Can't take the soul out of her
ZONKE Dikana, whose new album Ina Ethe has put her up there with the best, says the secret of her success was to have abandoned house music for soul - her original sound.
She signed on with house and kwaito label Kalawa in 2007 and released the dance album Life, Love and Music.
"Something was missing when I released the dance music," Zonke said " It was not me. My late father, jazz drummer Viva Dikana, kept asking: 'Are you sure this is who you want to be?'
"Now I am doing what I have always wanted to do. I feel I have been away from myself and now I am back."
Zonke said insinuations that her popular hit from the album Jiki Izinto bears a relationship to late Afro-pop star Paul Ndlovu's classic Nita Fama Moyeni, is not true at all.
" I composed the song when I was feeling down, not having recorded for four years after Life, Love and Music . I felt I should use lyrics in a language that has been distant to me. I chose Xitsonga instead of isiXhosa, which has always been a part of me.
" I took the common phrase famba moyeni ( walk in the sky ) because I believed that one day I would walk in the sky, achieving musical success . And that is happening with my new album. I am pleasantly surprised by the positive response from my old fans from the dance music years as well as the new ones," said the seven-months pregnant Zonke.
She is romantically linked to attorney-turned-recording label owner Tumi Mokoena. He owns TMP Records through which Zonke's new album was released.
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