{"id":108306,"date":"2022-06-10T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=108306"},"modified":"2022-06-10T11:27:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T09:27:02","slug":"moonchild-sanelly-phases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/moonchild-sanelly-phases\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a woman’s world for Moonchild Sanelly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a long time, Moonchild Sanelly has been a walking scandal. Even if she has signed some of South Africa\u2019s biggest hits of the decade; even if she has toured all over the world; even if Beyonc\u00e9 herself invited her on The Lion King<\/em> album (2019); for a long time, her name would mostly make headlines for topics unrelated to music, accompanied by words like \u201coutrageous\u201d, \u201cshocking\u201d or \u201cspeechless\u201d. These headlines would often be related to the singer\u2019s appearance or sexuality: while male rappers, Afropop artists or popstars mention it regularly in their songs, it seems like for a woman, artist or not, being open about sex is still an issue for certain people. However, from the first minutes of our interview, it is clear that Sanelly, born Sanelisiwe Twisha, will not be bothered by the latter. \u201cThis happens because there\u2019s a lot of men and men are taught that women are servers, to provide babies<\/em>\u201d, she says after taking a deep breath in, with the tone of someone used to repeating herself. \u201cAnd women are told to be ladies, and ladies are not supposed to know where the clitoris is, ladies are not supposed to say how they want it, to have a voice in the bedroom. At this point, I\u2019m becoming the person I wish I had when I was a kid. Because If I had a song on radio that told me about the pleasures of sex, I would have questionned the times where I was being sexually harrassed and molested. A song that makes me feel good about my body size, a song that makes me question when I\u2019m being violated, and all that. I\u2019m a lady, and I own my body, and it takes nothing away from being a lady.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Through impish songs like \u00ab Where De Dee Kat<\/a> \u00bb and suggestive videos like \u201cOnline\u201d, Sanelly has become used to shocking. \u201cI love the fact that I shake everybody and everything all the time<\/em>\u201d, she even admits with a shameless smile.  A habit she already had in university when, on her way to becoming the \u201cfuture ghetto funk\u201d ambassador, she would perform poetry recitals and happily make her audience cringe. To her, the shocking is just a side effect from \u201cowning of the narrative<\/em>\u201d, an expression she will use frequently in our discussion. She makes it a point to say that this confidence comes first and foremost from her own life experiences; yet, it also stems from two important feminine figures. The first one is South African 80s pop icon Brenda Fassie, known for her groundbreaking music and activism as well as for her shattering private life. \u201cHer music was around me and really affected me<\/em>\u201d, Sanelly explains. \u201cWhen I was four, we did a music session and I chose her song. When I meet people that met her in person, they\u2019re always like \u2018your similarity is not only a music thing, it\u2019s also your personality, how you don\u2019t give a fuck and you just do you and the world adapts to you\u2019\u201d. <\/em>The second one is her mother, who passed away shortly after sending her away from Port Elizabeth to Durban for her studies. \u201cShe was absolutely different from the ladies of her age<\/em>\u201d, she recalls laughing. \u201cThe ladies of her time would look at her like they are looking at me now. My mom was a baddie. Everyone had husbands and she didn’t! You\u2019d never see me in the streets, in a corner with a boy or doing anything consuming my time: my mom was very conscious and she put me on stage when I was 6 months. I made our existence worth it.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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