Muneyi's magical moment

Muneyi, a poetic voice from Limpopo, blends folk and tradition into something urgent, modern and, finally, something celebrated

- Kibo Ngowi

For years, Muneyi’s music has felt like a quiet promise. If you were listening closely, you could hear it — in the tenderness of his lyrics, in the way he carried his Venda heritage without flinching, in the softness he refused to hide.

But now, after nearly a decade of slow-burning releases, performances, collaborations and prayerful patience, that promise has bloomed.

The 2024 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Music went to Muneyi and, in many ways, it couldn’t have gone to anyone more deserving.

The award, which has recognised some of South Africa’s most daring creative voices, felt like a belated acknowledgement of what many fans already knew — Muneyi is one of the most spiritually grounded, emotionally intelligent and musically generous artists of his generation.

When Muneyi learned he had won, he was surrounded by friends at the Cape Town Art Fair but he couldn’t tell a soul.

"I got a message from someone at Standard Bank," he recalls. "But I’ve done a lot of work with them before, so I didn’t think much of it."

It wasn’t until he received a call from the National Arts Festival director that it clicked: “She told me I'd been selected as this year’s recipient. I was shocked.”

It’s a quiet kind of joy that’s become familiar in Muneyi’s journey, one defined less by sudden explosion and more by slow, intentional work.

Now 29, the singer-songwriter has been building toward this moment for nearly a decade.

“I’ve been actively making music since around 2017,” he says. “But I started writing in 2014. That was the first time I picked up a guitar — and I just couldn’t put it down.”