Gabi Motuba: Jazz, Spirituality and Resistance in Contemporary South Africa

Gabi Motuba, a Pretoria-born jazz vocalist, composer and educator, has been recognised with the 2026 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz, reflecting her innovative contribution to South African music. Her work intertwines musical experimentation with socio-political consciousness, often addressing grief, violence, and the legacy of black life in South Africa. Across her projects – from Sanctum Sanctorium (2016), her collaboration with Tumi Mogorosi, Tefiti – Goddess of Creation (2018), to The Sabbath (2024) – Motuba blends jazz, classical forms, and improvisational vocal techniques, creating a soundscape that is both spiritually resonant and politically potent. The Sabbath, inspired by personal loss and national tragedies such as Marikana, explores grief as a collective experience and a vehicle for resistance. Motuba’s mastery extends beyond singing, incorporating conduction, gestural expression, and a deep engagement with the black church’s spiritual and musical traditions. Her work emphasises the physicality of music-making and the voice as a site of resilience, self-sovereignty, and freedom-making. In a landscape marked by episodic violence and societal trauma, Motuba’s artistry serves as both a spiritual and cultural intervention, asserting the endurance and dignity of marginalised communities through sound.