If you want something to move you today, take a listen to Inga Hina’s debut album Promises to Makhulu. There’s something in the searing simplicity, emotionally-weighted lyricism and effortless Afro-soul odes to family that is as captivating as it is affecting.
Hina hails from Gqeberha and Promises to Makhulu is written as a tribute to her grandmother. The woman who raised her, the woman she left home to support in turn. The album serves as a gorgeously crafted insight into her family dynamic, into the matriarchal role her grandmother played, into the responsibility she shouldered once she grew up.
The album is weighted in love, and it’s the genuine heart-laid-bare-on-her-sleeve authenticity that makes Hina’s offering shine. Honeyed vocals slip, almost imperceptibly, between isiXhosa and English, over a prevailing soft synth undertow that cushions the whole project. Silvery piano, jangling guitar, feather-light textures – it’s only in “Ndingayaphi” and “Andisafuni” that a beat ever solidifies.
She sings appreciation to her grandmother through parting words as she leaves for the city (“Grandma’s Song”), and the heart wrenching loss of moving forward into life (““Fela Emazweni” and “Ndibize Nam”). There’s an ode to the urban life that’ll eat you alive (“Big Bad City”), and a couple of contrite love songs thrown in too (“I Choose To Love” and “Ukhangelani”).
But there’s nothing so visceral that carries through than the pure heart-warming open-hearted quality which imbues every track. And that right there, is where Hina captures hearts.
