The spirit of ‘Qadasi’ Zulu

STRUMMING his guitar before belting out the rounded clicks of the IsiZulu language, the spirit of Africa runs through the veins of Empangeni’s David Jenkins (23) who is making waves globally.

Recently featured on BBC, David is popularly known in the music industry as ‘Qadasi’ – a very old, uncommon word that refers to a ‘white person’.

‘In my traditional praise poem I state that I am a qadasi that eats phuthu and cabbage. After my friend and co-musician Maqhinga Radebe first picked up on that in 2009, the name stuck,’ David said.

A talented singer, guitarist, banjo and concertina player, David’s love for the Zulu culture developed at a young age and he started collecting books, traditional clothing, beadwork and music

To date, David has opened for Johnny Clegg, performed in Ireland and has been nominated for two South African traditional music awards.

‘Qadasi’ has released his debut album titled ‘Child of Africa’ which was later nominated for a SATMA award for Best Upcoming Artist, and in 2011 he set off on a new adventure to the USA to perform at a number of gigs in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia.

He was also given the honour of performing for President Jacob Zuma at a Christmas party held in his hometown of Nkandla and at King’s Park Stadium in Durban in front of tens of thousands of people for the President’s annual NEC speech.

Learning to speak and write isiZulu in high school at Felixton College, David became fluent after moving to Durban in 2012 where he started doing traditional music full-time.

If not music, David planned to follow a career in the film or creative industry as editing and design have always been interests of his.

An ear for alternative music genres like Indie folk, alternative rock, blues, bluegrass and country, David is also engrossed in technology and dabbles in web design and music production.

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