In Studio with Tholwana Dyosopu
Listen to Tholwana on Shake the Sword!
Singer-songwriter Tholwana Dyosopu is the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre’s Artist in Residence for 2026. As part of her residency, Dyosopu has brought to fruition a project that began last year but needed a bit more time in the studio: giving new life to some of Shakespeare’s sonnets through her witty, wry, melancholic and joyful music.
The seed of this body of work was actually planted in 2022, when Dyosopu was a Wits undergraduate taking a second-year English seminar. Actor Anelisa Phewa, the TCC Artist in Residence that year, worked with students in the class to develop translations and adaptations of Shakespeare’s sonnets for performance. Tholwana was drawn to Sonnet 138, “When my love swears that she is made of truth,/ I do believe her, though I know she lies . . .” Her gender-flipped take on the sonnet has since been joined by musical interpretations of sonnets 18, 73 (two versions - one accompanied on the guitar and one sung a capella), 130 and 138.
Dyosopu’s songs run the full gamut of emotion, mood and tone that Shakespeare’s sonnets explore: from affirmations of eternal love or ideal beauty to claims on behalf of literature and art (beauty fades, people die, but poetry and song do not). We also, scattered throughout the sonnet sequence, find plenty of cynicism about love and beauty - complaints about deception, expressions of jealousy or spitefulness, and even quiet despair about poetry itself. And then there are the sonnets that try to change the reader’s, or listener’s, understanding of who or what is desirable.
The tracks were laid down over multiple sessions in the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall at the Wits School of Arts and the Music Department’s recording studio nearby. Along the way, TCC Director Chris Thurman got to talk to Dyosopu about her musical past, her creative practice and what lies ahead. These studio sessions were perfect material for two episodes of the TCC podcast Shake the Sword! Part One has just been released and is available for listening on your podcast platform of choice, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other services linked via RSS.com.
Tholwana Dyosopu (née Mohale) burst onto the music scene as a teenager, winning SA’s Got Talent in 2014. After graduating from the National School of the Arts, she launched her debut EP Warrior (featuring the hit track “Hollywood Guy”) and followed this up with 2.0.1.5, which was nominated for a South African Music Award for Best Pop Album, and much-loved singles like “Don’t Let Me Go”. Tholwana completed her undergraduate studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, and is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education through the Wits School of Education.