Ithwasa Lekhansela titles a song Amabala, a Zulu word that can speak of colours or marks, carrying more than one shade of meaning into the maskandi tradition. The title leaves room for the song to fill in its sense.
Amabala keeps the acoustic maskandi arrangement, Zulu guitar setting the melody while the rhythm holds a danceable line. The genre’s storytelling bent means a title this open usually resolves into a clear situation as the song unfolds, and the delivery stays rooted in the plain, direct style the tradition is built on.
As a maskandi artist from the KwaZulu-Natal tradition, Ithwasa Lekhansela works in a form where the guitar and the Zulu language carry equal weight. His material keeps to the roots sound rather than chasing the trends that have swept much of the country’s music.
The feature that holds the ear is the texture of the picking, the bright, metallic ring of the maskandi guitar that no other genre quite reproduces. That tone alone tells you where the music comes from.
It suits those who keep the roots sound in regular rotation, at home or on the road. Listeners raised on the tradition will settle into its familiar character.
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