Why Mbuso Khoza Matters to a Generation Rediscovering Heritage

For many years, the kind of music that Mbuso Khoza creates was largely associated with elders, the sort of music heard in traditional ceremonies or, in his case, performed in intimate jazz venues for audiences already familiar with the language and references of the sound.

But something has shifted.

Today, the crowds gathering for Khoza’s performances are noticeably younger. Students, artists, and young professionals fill the room, many encountering this sound for the first time yet recognizing something familiar within it. Perhaps it is because this is how the ancestors once invoked the spirit world, through collective voice, rhythm, and response, before colonisation pushed many of these practices to the margins.

In Khoza’s performances, music becomes more than sound. The chants, rhythms, and call-and-response of isiZulu praise create a space where listeners begin to reflect on ancestry, identity, and cultural memory.

His singing voice moves between a deep, resonant cry and a more desperate calling out, a spiritual invocation reaching toward something beyond himself, raw and unguarded.

Returning to cultural memory

Speaking to OkayAfrica from a quiet farm in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, Khoza says the growing number of young people drawn to this music reflects something deeper. For him, it signals a renewed curiosity among Africans seeking to reconnect with knowledge systems that were interrupted or suppressed by colonial and religious influences. After his concerts, the conversations he has with young fans are often personal and reflective.

“Usually the comments are about self-discovery within the cultural framework and how to identify with and connect to those who came before us,” he explains.

These exchanges reveal a generation exploring questions of identity with fresh urgency, asking not only who they are, but how they relate to the histories that shaped them.

The cultural significance of artists like Khoza has also caught the attention of scholars. Historian and author Dalisu Buthelezi believes Khoza’s work forms part of a broader cultural shift taking place across the continent.

“Mbuso Khoza’s offering to native Africans is much deeper than just a motivation for the African awakening. It is more emotional. His music touches the soul, stimulating the unlearning and relearning for an African child.”

In that sense, the growing appeal of Mbuso Khoza may have less to do with novelty and more to do with recognition. For many listeners encountering his work for the first time, the music does not feel unfamiliar, even when there are language barriers. It's as though it is awakening something that had been waiting quietly beneath the surface.

The voice and legacy

On the surface, Khoza is a composer and singer-songwriter. Yet his place in society reaches beyond performance.

In many ways, he acts as a conduit through which ancestral stories continue to live.

While some listeners describe him as a jazz artist, others see him as a traditional African musician, and still others recognise him as a praise singer. In reality, his music moves between these identities rather than settling neatly into any single category.

That fluidity has enabled him to collaborate across a wide range of musical landscapes. He has performed Amahubo — ancient sacred Zulu hymns and chants — with symphony orchestras, appeared on house music projects, including Black Coffee’s Music Is King, worked closely with jazz visionary Nduduzo Makhathini, and collaborated with the legendary Grammy Award-winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

More recently, Khoza joined both Nduduzo Makhathini and Ladysmith Black Mambazo on the project One Voice - One World. He has also collaborated with South Africa’s renowned gospel ensemble Joyous Celebration.

Across these different musical environments, however, a clear thread remains: Khoza’s work draws deeply from African cultural memory. Regardless of genre, elements of heritage, storytelling, and philosophy continue to shape the music.

His presence also extends to television. Khoza has appeared on the Umkhokha: The Curse and contributed to the music of Shaka iLembe, the acclaimed historical drama that reintroduced the story of Shaka Zulu and the formation of the Zulu kingdom to a new generation of viewers.

When asked what allows audiences to experience something spiritual in his performances, Khoza points to the emotional honesty behind his work.

“I am now 47 years old, and when I look back at my career, the one constant has always been the fact that I create from a position of pain and vulnerability. I'm intentional about that. I don't deliver my music from an imagined superiority on how humans should live their lives or enjoy my music.”

The work of preservation

Khoza’s work does not end when the stage lights go down.

Beyond performing, much of his life’s effort is devoted to research, teaching, and the preservation of African knowledge systems. This work is carried out through the recently launched Mbuso Khoza Institute, based in his hometown of Eshowe in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.

In this sense, Khoza functions not only as a musician but also as a custodian of cultural memory, tracing lineages, documenting ancient Zulu music, and encouraging younger generations to engage with traditions that might otherwise fade.

Jazz as a Medium

Though jazz often appears to be the vehicle through which Khoza expresses much of his work, he is careful not to treat the genre as culturally superior. For him, jazz is first and foremost a discipline; a craft that musicians can study and master rather than an exclusive musical hierarchy.

“Jazz should never be a cult. It should serve as a skill to be attained in music schools for musicians to be proficient in playing it”, he explains.

Khoza also reminds listeners that jazz carries its own layered history. The genre emerged from the painful experiences of Africans forcibly taken to the Americas, who carried fragments of their musical heritage with them.

For Khoza, that history makes jazz less a pinnacle of musical achievement and more a continuation of a much longer African musical story.

Returning Home

For Buthelezi, the growing presence of young audiences at Khoza’s performances reflects a broader cultural movement already underway.

He notes that many Africans who grew up in the 1980s were shaped by institutions that privileged Western cultural frameworks, particularly through the church, schooling, and media.

But younger generations, he says, are encountering those influences differently.

“There is a kind of migration happening among young Africans; a return home culturally and spiritually,” Buthelezi explains.

“The layers of indoctrination are not as heavy, and there is a growing curiosity about African knowledge systems, traditions, and spirituality.”

In that environment, the resonance of artists like Mbuso Khoza becomes easier to understand.

“The ground is fertile,” Buthelezi says. “African stories, music, and philosophies are being rediscovered by a generation that is ready to listen.”

In many ways, the growing appeal of Mbuso Khoza reflects a cultural moment unfolding across the continent. As more Africans look toward heritage, language, and ancestral knowledge, Khoza’s music offers something both familiar and profound, a reminder that these traditions have never died.