Grew up in Makhanda and currently resides in JHB where she pursues her music career, Viwoletu Kulati is an R&B songstress who studied music and classical voice at Victoria Girl’s High School. Before we began with her music journey we were interested in knowing who is her favorite muso and why and which music genre she thinks it’s big currently in Mzansi, this is what she said – “My favorite artist besides myself is Lalah Hathaway, I love her tone. I think the biggest music genre right now is Amapiano cause it’s everywhere and I myself too, I love it”.
Now back to you: when did you commence with doing music, what inspired you to start doing music, including why you chose to go for your music genre? “I started doing music in 2015, but professionally & seriously It was in 2018. The Grahamstown National Arts Festival actually inspired me to get into music because growing up in Makhanda I used to attend a lot of shows. And when I commenced with my music career I chose R&B/Soul because I love it, and yes there are some jazz influences in my music but deep down I’m an R&B girl”.
Challenging thing about being artist thus far? And how are you navigating through those challenges? “The most challenging thing about being an artist is being unsigned, but personally it has been finding my sound which I feel like I’ve found now, if not close to.
"I navigate through the challenges of being an unsigned artist by educating myself about the industry through workshops, shortcourses etc. I have great people around me who are helping in certain areas that I’m not good at, and I collaborate a lot with other artists because there’s so much to learn from others, and also many opportunities are birthed from collabs”.
Tell us about your recent released EP – it’s name, what is it about, who did you work with and how is it doing thus far? “The title of my debut EP is Love, and it emphasizes the message that we are all nothing without love. I worked with a brilliant producer Wilson Okafor (Wilson Muzic). The EP is growing, I’m happy”.
What are your music journey highlights so far? “Performing at the National Arts Festival, Dakawa Jazz series, cause I feel that it was such a full circle moment for me”.
What can the public expect on your EP launch? “They can expect great live arrangements of the tracks off the EP and also enjoy my other unreleased music, great vibes and they’ll get to understand what I’m about and who I am more”.
Lastly, when not working on your brand, what do you do to keep sane? “I think because I’m in the building stages of my brand still, that’s all I do for now and I don’t really need much of an escape from it because I love what I do”.