One of South Africa’s freshest acts, Luanga Choba’s distinctive sound and rich, earthy melodies set her apart and transport her audiences on a unique musical journey. Discover this gem for yourself at The Bassline Jazz Club, Newtown on Saturday 14 September 2013. Starting at 7pm the event will see the premier of Luanga’s brand new music video; Leave me and a live band performance of her other songs.

Luanga entered the music scene in 2012 and in under a year she has established her own label Xhimvani Records and penned and released her 14 track album Luanga Who? launched earlier this year. Dubbing her music "Gonzo Soul", drawn from Bill Cardoso's “Gonzo journalism” description of Hunter S Thompson's unconventional, subjective kind of reportage.

“I was inspired to name my genre because my producers could not tell me what my genre was. They could tell me what it isn't or what it's close to but not what it is. When challenged on what my music was, I did a little research into it and decided that Gonzo Soul fitted best. I couldn't tell you what soul is, but I know soul when I hear soul and I hear it in my music.”

Luanga’s musical journey is an unusual one – passion driven and full of interesting turns. From a very early age her musical soul was insistent on being heard. Luanga recalls her musical explorations, a nonsense song sampled to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and later a girl group called Charisma which stole the audience’s hearts and progressed to the semi-finals of the Shell Road to Fame on Luanga’s own composition Men Are Nothing but Trouble. A year later she won the composition category with the same song.

However she chose to follow a career in medicine, leaving her music behind. She graduated with a medical degree from the University of Cape Town in 1999 and went on to practice medicine in the United Kingdom. Yet something nagged at her. “I felt like I was always looking for someone or something,” says Luanga.

Despite uncertainty in the industry and the difficulties associated with forging a career in music, Luanga could no longer ignore her passion and the songs that were welling up in her.

“You don’t really have a choice, but to give into your passion, otherwise you will find yourself always asking questions,” she says.

Deeply connected to her African roots Luanga’s songwriting process is organic and she allows the music to flow through her to shape into song – a pure reflection of self. Her cell phone has become her best friend, on hand to record a song whenever it pops into her head. Fear of commercialising this process and losing her authenticity drove her decision to establish her own record label.

"Luanga Choba's music is fresh and daring in its originality. She is definitely not a follower!" says SAfm’s Richard Nwamba.

Luanga performs in various languages, including her mother tongue Setswana which is relatively poorly represented in the industry. She goes to great lengths to use Setswana idioms and proverbs drawing her research from Setswana radio stations, she has found that her appreciation for the language has surged.

Luanga has recently signed agreements with online distributor and supplier Africori (www.africori.com) making her music digitally available for downloading, as well as digital streaming service Simfy (www.simfyafrica.com) a monthly subscription of R60 gives listeners access to a multitude of music and allowing them to legally download their favourite Luanga Choba tracks. Luanga Who? is now available on Kalahari.net.

Tickets are available at the door and cost R100 or R180 which includes a copy of Luanga Who?

For Interview requests and access to high resolution pictures contact JT Communication Solutions on media@jtcomms.co.za or 011 788 7632

Issued by JT Communication Solutions on Behalf of Luanga Choba