Popular South African acapella group, The Soil made a stop in Cape Town for their Reflections Tour which is nearing completion.The trio performed to a packed City Hall last Sunday night (August 24). Tickets to the show sold out a week prior. Kicking off their set with their hit song “Joy”, the multi award-winning trio got a great response from Capetonians. Chants and shouts from adoring fans heated up the packed City Hall.

The countrywide  Reflections Tour which saw the trio performing to sold-out audiences in most of the provinces, began in October last year. Cape Town was their second-last stop before heading to the Northern Cape this weekend (30th of August).

Chatting to the trio, moments before they went on stage, they said that they had always planned to grow their audience through live performances. “The angle to market the album was to perform live,” said member Ntsika Ngxanga. The only female member of the trio Buhlebendalo Mda said their main aim was to revive people’s spirits and to make them feel just as they would in church. “We want to change the way people see the world and the way people see the music,” she said.

The trio flexed their vocal chords for about two and a half hours. Luphindo’s (also known as Master P) beatboxing as per usual fashion ensured those vocals weren’t floating aimlessly throughout their set. Buhle engaged the crowd with her ukuxhentsa (a traditional Xhosa dance).

Right in the middle of their performance, the trio teased the audience with a new song from their upcoming sophomore album Nostalgic Moments . Titled “Ndibambe kanje”, the song which is a twist to an old Xhosa folklore song had the crowd singing along.

The album which they revealed features such names as the legendary Grammy Award-winning isicathamiya group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and The Motswako Originator, rapper Khuli Chana is set to for a September 22 release. On the track with Khuli, they revealed that he sings and they rap. Now that is definitely something to look forward to.

The event was a huge success; the sound was crisp, The Soil delivered, and everyone seemed thoroughly entertained. From what the trio dished out, the second album promises to be something worth the three-year-long wait since their self-titled debut in 2011.

All images by Sine Ndlela.

Twitter: @GililiChris