The Witch’s Flight

The Witch’s Flight is guided by the question; “What does freedom SOUND like?” Taking heed to this, amapiano becomes a portal and a sonic guide to diverse freedom dreams. The Witch’s Flight is the quest for a Black feminist sensibility structured in a series of sonic experimentations that center South Africa and the larger African diaspora.

On this month’s episode, Zama will be joined in conversation by DJ Cleo, mapping DJ Cleo’s impact on South African dance music culture and its influence on the contemporary landscape of amapiano.

DJ Cleo is a South African multi-award-winning musician, producer and DJ. Though he started DJing at age 17, his professional DJ career started at the age of 19 when he doubled as both a mix dj and a technical producer for Ashifa Shabba and Dj Fresh at Yfm. He now hosts and DJ’s a Friday night radio show on Radio 2000 ––“the Eskhaleni party.”

In this episode, we are in conversation with Mpho Sebina who is a Botswana-born and bred melodist, songwriter. She is also a Recording Academy Voting Member who has spread her wings across the music scene over the past couple of years. Her sound is Neo Soul and AfroIndie, performing for small acoustic audiences to large festival stages including Forbes Under 30 Pan African Welcome Celebration hosted in Gaborone , Botswana in May 2024. She debuted her first project in 2017, a six track EP titled “Neo'' featuring the hit song ‘No Evil’ which encompasses all of the musical elements that make and influence her from Setswana Folk to RnB to Hip Hop. In 2020 she released her sophomore project and debut album entitled “Lora” to a well-received audience with standout songs ‘Dikeledi’ and ‘Dumelang’. She released her “love letter to Africa” titled “Alkebulan on the 10th of October 2024 , a 5 track EP that features females artist from Across the continent.

This month in celebration of Black History Month, Zama has a special episode lined up honoring personal narratives spanning from Nigeria, South-Africa, Black Los Angeles and beyond.

Our astrologer, Monique Ruffin will be joining us for part two of our astrological forecast for 2025. Since we are also celebrating Valentine’s Day month, our astrologer will speak to us about the function of “Venus” which is the planet that governs love, pleasure and creativity.

In the second hour, joining us in-studio is Akin Omotoso, a Nigeria-South African filmmaker and director known for his thought-provoking storytelling and visual artistry. Whilst Omotoso has captured the interest of Hollywood directing Rise, a Disney+ biopic about NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo and contributing to Beyonce’s 2020 visual musical Black is King, he seems to maintain the edge of a griot, story-teller, and ultimately a filmmaker of decolonial makings. Omotoso continues to be a leading voice in African and global cinema, balancing commercial and independent projects while championing African narratives on the world stage.

In this intimate conversation with director/writer/producer, Akin Omotoso, I demonstrate a Black feminist consideration of the ways in which African filmmakers such as Omotoso contend with gendered and racialized visual histories in order to produce subversive images of Blackness. Omotoso was born to a Barbadian mother and a Nigerian father and had lived in both places before being uprooted go to South Africa. Thus, I contend that he embodies the practice of diaspora and collapses rigid understandings of “home”, “place” and “identity”­––these themes can be traced throughout his extensive filmography. Whilst Omotoso has captured the interest of Hollywood by directing Disney’s 2022 film: Rise  and contributing to Beyonce’s visual musical Black is King, he seems to maintain the edge of a griot, story-teller, and ultimately a filmmaker of decolonial makings.