Umzulu Phaqa: Living a life without regret

With many adversities in her music career, independent genre-fluid artist Sphiwe Moya, known as Umzulu Phaqa, says she is committed to living a life without regret, regardless of disapproval.

Hailing from a small farming town near Camperdown in KwaZulu-Natal, Moya is pursuing a path her family does not consider a viable career.

“I come from a Christian household,my parents are bishops in the church. For them, music is not a thing. It’s, 'Girl, go get a job. You need to wrap it up',’” she says.

“But I see the vision. At the end of the day, it’s my life.”

She says her journey is not only personal but symbolic for others from similar backgrounds.

While she respects her parents’ views, Moya is firm in her decision to follow her own path.

“I will live by my parents’ rules in terms of respect, but I’m the one living my life. If I listen to everything they say and then regret it at 40… I don’t want that. I don’t want to live with regrets.”

As the world was thrust into a whirlwind of the global pandemic in 2020, this period marked a turning point for Umzulu Phaqa and her relationship with the talent she has always had.

“I discovered music post-COVID, when people were really receiving it for the first time. I’ve always sung, but I never thought it could be something,” she says.
“Funny enough, while people weren’t working during COVID, I was working.”

That period shifted her sense of identity.

“I always saw myself as an academic. I’m a very smart girl, and I wanted to appease my parents. But something shifted. I realised, ‘Oh my God, this is my life.’”

With a multigener backtrack that merges sounds of pop, jazz, R&B, soulful chords, umaskandi and many other sounds. Moya interweaves the different sonic elements to paint a vivid picture of the influences that have made her who she is.

Her music ranges from deeply personal storytelling like uMakhumalo, which reflects on her family, to socially rooted themes. Her latest single, Thakata Njalo, touches on witchcraft, a subject that remains present in some South African communities.

“I love Western music. I’ve listened to country, funk, gospel. My dad was a big country fan, and we grew up listening to stations like 947,” she says.

“Now I’m asking, how does that sound translate into something that resonates with me?”

Determined not to be boxed in, Moya says her goal is to create music that reflects her identity both culturally and sonically.

She believes South Africa’s music scene has space for more than dominant genres like hip hop and amapiano.

“We need artists like Zoe Modiga, Nduduzo Makhathini, and Nomfundo Moh, people who exist in their own lane,” she says.

“There’s an audience for that. That’s why they are who they are. I’ve decided to have an original voice. I won’t let people box me.”

As she continues to define her sound, Umzulu Phaqa is working on a new project inspired by one of South Africa’s most iconic musicians, Brenda Fassie.

“I’m releasing a Nguni pop album inspired by the queen of African pop, the textures and sounds of the ’80s,” she says.
“But I’m making it modern. I want to represent what a Nguni pop artist looks like today.”