Simphiwe Dana is probably the most talented female singer of her generation from South Africa. (Thandiswa Mazwai would come a close second; whatever that means.) Dana is still young, she’s only 32, so we can only imagine what she will still achieve. In 2008 the British music writer, David Honigmann of the Financial Times, described her as “… tall, assured and fully in control.” If you have not heard her music yet, sample “Ndiredi or “Zandisile” for starters.  She has made a lot more music, including a new album, but the links above will suffice.  The point of this post, however, is a series of new videos on the website of the German TV channel ZDF recorded with Dana in early 2010.

It includes a long, 19-minute raw piece of video footage of a conversation between a German producer and Dana (watch here) on Xhosa music and culture. Dana indulges the reporter’s questions and talks beautifully about her first language, Xhosa, a language that grew from the “mixture of two cultures …  Xhosa and San … and where they collide[d] comes something beautiful.” In the interview Dana also talks about self love (she’s big on it), why South Africa is so violent, how the rainbow nation is a “farce,” and racial inequality, among others.

A second video contains a jam session with fellow singer Thandiswa at a restaurant in Johannesburg. The performance is worth your time.