TU NOKWE


"Tu means you in French." Says Tu Nokwe. And if you didn't know better you'd be forgiven for thinking Nokwe means music in Xhosa. It doesn't, but in a sense it does. The Nokwe's are the Jackson's 5 of Africa. The family is comprised of six members who have made music most of their lives.

Her parents and Bheki Mseleku who used to live with her family in KwaMashu, as well as the myriad musicians who visited the Nokwe residence musically influenced Tu. Her father Alfred was in a number of popular swing bands in the 50's and 60's and her mother Patty went from being a virtual slave in a Durban family's household, to one of the finest mezzo-sopranos this country has known, she taught all her children to sing and Tu taught herself to play guitar on a make shift guitar. The Black African Angels were a vocal group that Tu started with her sister Marilyn and a friend Nonhlanhla. Their fame spread and they recorded an album on RPM records. Their performances exposed Tu to disadvantaged township youth, which was where the seeds for Tu's Amajika Youth and Children's Art Project were sewn.
Amajika teaches kids music, drama, dance and self-respect. Seven of its members were selected to perform in Mbongeni Ngema's Broadway hit Sarafina, including Leleti Khumalo who played the lead role. In New York Tu auditioned at the Manhattan School Of Music and was offered a scholarship on the spot. After leaving the school, she developed a one-person play in the USA, which toured 21-prisons in 11 days.
Upon returning home Tu wrote about her experiences in the songs featured on Inyaka Nyaka, her second solo album. The first album Mind Your Own Business was released to critical acclaim just before her departure to America. Tu has featured in six plays, including in Singing the Times the biography of her mother's life, which she wrote. She has starred in numerous TV programs and has appeared on several albums.