Gibson said she uses instruments like the didgeridoo to mimic the sounds of Africa’s animals - like the slow, violent growl of a lion on a nighttime hunt.
“I try and pull those sounds into the didge [didgeridoo] and the drums obviously help a lot because drums is part of Africa. The beat has got the rhythm of Africa and everything that we are,” she said.
Gibson's love of Africa, its nature and its people, was inspired by her upbringing, on a farm in the mountains of Mpumalanga province. Here, villagers taught her to make music using waste materials from a local dump.
“I kind of picked up a pool pipe and started playing a pool pipe because I didn’t have money for a didgeridoo; us South Africans don’t much have money, so...” she recalled.
As a child, with a pool pipe in her mouth, Gibson dreamed of one day owning a real didgeridoo.
“I just liked the sound; I’ve always liked the sound. I always found it had a nice tribal feel to it,” she said.
As Gibson has grown as a musician, so has her small collection of instruments, helping her create some of South Africa’s most unique contemporary music.
She said that no matter what she ever achieves as an artist, she’ll
“never come close” to her hero, the great South African folk singer and
songwriter Vusi Mahlasela.Gibson recently saw Mahlasela at a festival, and approached him with a request.
“‘Can I please play you a song?’ And he was kind of a bit shocked… And he just said, ‘Okay; play it.’ And I played on his guitar… and it was the most amazing thing; he gave me a big hug afterward,” she said.
Like Mahlasela, Gibson makes music with a conscience and that is what Africa is all about.
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