Gugulethu Duma, mostly known as DUMAMA is a musician, emerging curator, cultural organizer, and true evidence of a supernatural force’s existence. She‘s not just a songwriter, but a storyteller that takes you on the journey while her performance is on. A journey through traditional South African oral-history culture and futuristic globally-oriented poetics, with delicate care and awareness of the value of both. There are no “people in the audience” when DUMAMA is on stage, there is an organism that leads her in every movement and every sound.

Don‘t miss DUMAMA‘s perfromance on 14. MAY at XJAZZ! FESTIVAL 2023.

We met the guys after the show “DUMAMA: NOISE OF THE STARS” @XJAZZ! Weekender at ZENNER to ask some questions and finally got closer.

DUMAMA (vocals)

PACHAKUTI (keys)

LUKAS AKINTAYA (drums)

SOFIA EFTYCHIDOU (double bass)

YOU WILL NEVER BUT I

D: am not a trained musician and I don’t want to be. I‘m so happy to have an intuitive relationship with music and to be surrounded by trained musicians who teach me a lot every day. But I‘m really thankful for this strange intuitive relationship with this practice, which usually requires fluid structure but somehow I’ve found people who are as structured as they are fluentin fluidity and those are my kind of PEOPLE.

I think people should never

P: waste their time if they are into making music. If you have time, you should practice. Because it’s so much to learn.

When I got older I realized

L: that family is what you choose and growth comes from the community.

I believe in

S: love. It‘s a cliche, but it’s true. And they look like they believe in it too. So cheers for that!

If you are in Berlin you should visit

P: Neukölln, Wedding, Moabit - places that have such bad fame in Germany, and sometimes even beyond. But I think these are the most viby places, so much flavor, so many nice places there.

Tempelhoff field - a place with a lot of magic and history. People who come together to make something out of scratch. A lot of creativity, open space for experimenting, for being creative together.

Places like ZENNER! Visit concerts, venues, and art venues. The places that are really not on the map, something that is not on big billboards! Just investigate!

If my life had a soundtrack it would be

D: “Freedom is coming tomorrow”

This is from the movie called “Sarafina!” which is about the 1976 youth uprising in South Africa, where a bunch of teenagers was revolting against the apartheid regime and how it impacted their education. Kids 15 -18 years old mobilized cross country and were all protesting together on June 16th. These kids were killed.

When I was a child my parents were like “You are black, you should watch this movie” and I remember myself standing in front of the TV and singing along to the theme song “Freedoooom is coming tomooooroooow”

My guilty pleasure is

D: RuPaul‘s Drag Race

I cannot say "no" to

D: warm cuddles, regardless of what time it is (and how much work I have to do) from our house (jazz) cat, Princess Chatale. She is so fluffy, gentle and sweet.

The thing that impressed me the most lately

S: KAYTRANADA concert in Paris. Like “Ufff, wow” Danced the night away, visited the best party… got corona!

XJAZZ! IS

A: a lot of fun!

D: Phenomenal curation, intentional collaborations, and somehow a grounded family atmosphere, and it‘s always inspiring! All the shows that I‘ve managed to see - all of them were just inspiring. And so many different interpretations of jazz!