Auriol Hays

AURIOL HAYS: BIOGRAPHY
‘She has the knack to astound, and quite often her sound defies categorization.’ — Zakes Mda

Auriol Hays is a genre-defying South African singer-songwriter, cultural archivist, and interdisciplinary practitioner whose fearless versatility has earned her acclaim on stages at home and abroad. With seven albums and three EPs to her name, she effortlessly navigates jazz, blues, soul, and reggaeton, performing in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Pedi, and Portuguese. Critics describe her fusion of deep emotion and rich storytelling as a voice “entirely and completely her own.”

Her debut, Behind Closed Doors, produced the chart-topping singles “Turn Up the Volume” and “Take It Slow,” garnering a SAMA nomination and setting the stage for a career of "Awareness Through Music." From her 2016 socially conscious album Dreaming Music—which included a tribute to the Greenpeace Arctic 30—to the 2022 SAMPRA-sponsored Silk and Gravel, Hays’ discography is a roadmap of musical and social inquiry.

Beyond the studio, Hays is a sophisticated cultural conduit. Between 2017 and 2020, she served as an Erasmus+ Cultural Ambassador, representing South Africa in a tripartite exchange with France and Zambia. Her commitment to the interior lives of artists is further realized through her long-form digital audio archive, Behind Closed Doors, and her tenure at Eden FM (2021–2022), where she managed a 23,000 km² broadcast footprint to document the resilience of regional artists.

Hays’ live performances are equally celebrated, from the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival and the Cape Town International Jazz Festival to immersive residencies like the Tankwa Artscape.
In 2024, she was commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts for the global project A Migrant Story, and in 2025, she continued her momentum with a national tour alongside iconic guitarist Steve Newman, a regional tour of Mozambique with Concerts SA, and a featured appearance at Bush Radio’s 30-Year Celebration.

Her music has been featured extensively in film and television, including SABC 3’s Isidingo, The Mating Game, and international syncs for Carrefour France and the award-winning The Book of Mikey. Whether exploring the legacy of Nina Simone at Artscape or advocating for Alzheimer’s awareness as an ambassador for The Living Cornerstone, Auriol Hays remains a prolific songwriter whose body of work conveys stories of love, resistance, and identity with rare poetic depth.