INDWE

INDWE is a South African singer, composer, and cultural curator - and the great-great-granddaughter of pioneering pianist Eleanor Xiniwe , a member of the historic African Choir that toured the UK and US in the late 1800s. She descends from a long line of musical trailblazers, including her uncle, Retsi Pule, a legendary Afro-Jazz crooner, and Cory Pule of the Slowfoot King Brothers, known for his saxophone mastery and soul-stirring vocals.

This living legacy pulses through INDWE's work, which blends indigenous bow instruments, traditional isiXhosa song structures, jazz improvisation, and electronic textures into sonic rituals of remembrance.
She is the founder of Roots2000 (with SliqAngel and MXO) and later UDABA, a spoken word and jazz collective focused on isiXhosa lyrical excellence in the spirit of S.E.K Mqhayi and other literary modernists.

Her solo debut "Indwe" introduced her Afro-Indigenous musical philosophy to broader audiences, followed by collaborations on the internationally acclaimed FOOD (with Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa). and INTONE - a percussive, improvisational project with South African drummer James van Minnen and German born tabla player Ronan Skillen, recorded live in a coastal cave in 2018 as part of the "Meditations and Lullabies" album.
A recipient of music award nominations including Best Female Artist and Best Urban Jazz, she also co-composed the anthemic "Umthandazo Wase Afrika" on Simphiwe Dana's ' The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street' (2008) and 'Loliwe' with Sliq Angel (2000).

In addition to her music, INDWE was featured as a presenter in the documentary 'INDWE: The Women's March of 1956', and continues to engage in cultural advocacy, education, and performance-based storytelling through the INDWE Cultural Ensemble and Jazz Collective.