Thando Khumalo on South African Culture, Art, Jazz and Storytelling

The Culture is usually a wrinkle in time that ripples through our lives and is rarely, if ever, made up of just one thing. It’s a palpable shift in the air that is moved by like-minded people, song playing in the background, art thoughtfully placed around, and everything else living in that space and what it represents.

These details and the people that contribute to The Culture are what drive Just Trimmings. It’s the visible moments and behind-the-scenes stories that give a rich texture to life. A texture we love to consume in all facets, and report on it truthfully.

In order to do so, we need storytellers who not only observe The Culture, but also live it, breathe it, and subsequently disrupt it. That is why it’s with great pleasure that I introduce and welcome our newest Cultural Contributor – Thando Khumalo.

A creative polymath and someone I respect dearly, get to know the person behind the upcoming bylines.

Meet Thando Khumalo – Just Trimmings Newest Cultural Contributor

1. For readers meeting you for the first time, who is Thando Khumalo?

I am a woman with her fingers in many trades – I’m a brand strategist, a trained performer, a model, a jazz lover and a culture enthusiast.

2. What does The Culture mean to you, and how does it show up in your everyday life?

To me, The Culture is the showcase of our rituals, expression and love of our craft in shared spaces. This includes the performing arts, fashion and the fine arts. Nightlife, festivals, exhibitions and expression on our digital platforms form a huge part of where The Culture lives.

3. What first drew you to writing and storytelling?

In the early 2000s, my father bought me my first copy of Ymag, YFM’s youth culture magazine, which featured all of my favourite cultural icons and inspirations from the time. Before then, I had always experienced literature as a means to learn academically. While other lifestyle magazines such as You and Drum existed, I had never quite seen my favourite part of culture being displayed with visuals and words in this way.

This epiphany opened up my world to Hype Magazine, Street Journal, Lebo Mashile’s Latitude, and other youth culture movements being documented on different media. This made me want to participate in documenting culture and youth lifestyle movements. I only got around to doing it many years after that with Unlabelled Magazine, and I really enjoyed it. Joining Just Trimmings to get back into it only feels natural, and I’m looking forward to all the events and occasions we’re about to share with everyone.

4. What kinds of stories or cultural conversations naturally pull you in?

Stories that allow one to delve into what is considered the “Behind the Scenes” of a cultural phenomenon, movement, or body of work are my favourite. The unique stories from individuals that form the culture network or movement often contains the minute plot twists and circumstantial substance that create the changes that we don’t see. The stories about how a song came about and why it was written. The stories about how a group of friends created a youth movement, and it all started out as a joke. The stories that immerse one into the room that no one else was in… Those are my curiosities.  

5. When you walk into a room, attend an event or experience something new, what does Thando Khumalo tend to notice first?

The energy – whether the space and its people are relaxed or tense… And then I listen to the sounds – the music and acoustics play a huge role in how people are interacting with each other and how they are moving in a space. That usually informs everything else.

6. Who or what is influencing your cultural perspective right now?

South African Jazz and contemporary music have had me in a chokehold for the last few years. The Zoë Modiga’s, Ndabo Zulu’s, Desire Marea’s and Thando Nje’s of the scene are telling compelling stories through soundscapes that are new but familiar in a way that makes me feel heard and seen. Young South African fine artists are also quite topical in my cultural scope right now. Visuals of women enjoying leisure, young black men navigating new perspectives of masculinity… We’re just kids raised to idolise suburbia and white cultural standards, choosing to create new realities and futures by exploring and embracing our ancestral histories and the current world we’re presented with.

7. What are some of the conversations happening in South African culture that Thando Khumalo think deserve more attention?

I’m really impressed with how Gen Z is confronting the societal issues that have broken many families that older generations have normalised. While having fun and enjoying ourselves in our cultural movements and communities, it’s important to address and conscientise each other about problems that affect us. The fact that they drink much less alcohol than older generations and are less self-sacrificing makes me proud. I hope they get to speaking against the gambling epidemic that is about to ruin the lives of South Africans and make some tangible policy changes that’ll benefit those that will come after them.  

8. What does good storytelling mean to you?

Good storytelling is moving… It transports you away from where you are or draws you deeper into the details that you did not notice before. It challenges perspectives and changes longstanding beliefs. Whether in song, literature or film, I want to walk away having felt something, good or bad.

9. What can readers expect from your work at Just Trimmings?

Readers can expect plenty of art, jazz and film from me. I hope they enjoy my conversational and edgy writing style. I might get a bit controversial or probe at something I find interesting – if I’m allowed.  

10. Just Trimmings covers everything from music and art to fashion, food, beauty and experiences. Where do you see the most interesting intersections between these worlds?

All of the above have a commonality – beauty in expression and the incentive of its enjoyment.

11. If you could spend a day with any South African creative, past or present, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Oh… there are so many. But I’d have to choose Thandiswa Mazwai right now. She’s a mother who has been able to self-actualise and materialise her artistic visions with so much vigour and impact. I’d ask her how she navigates fear and noise in order to stay in the path of her divine calling.

12. What is Thando Khumalo currently listening to, watching, reading or experiencing?

I’m currently in the process of spiritual rebirth after having my baby… I’m immersing myself in the bible, church and all its music. But I’m also enjoying Erykah Badu & Alchemy, Jill Scott and Thabo Smol’s new albums.  

13. What is one thing you hope readers take away from your stories?

That fun, enjoyment and admiration of expression can walk hand-in-hand with questioning its deeper meaning. To question something is not to discard its validity or beauty.

14. Complete the sentence: Culture is…

… Shared expression.

15. Finally, what should Just Trimmings readers know about the person behind the Thando Khumalo byline?

I am born curious and incredibly interested – about almost everything – so there will be an eclectic range of topics and events covered. This also means that readers may witness me changing my mind about things I have written before. I’m always open to that kind of thing when I learn something new.

Thando, we are thrilled to have you on board and look forward to hearing your voice and seeing your perspective. Having a deep passion for expression that is complemented by her natural curiosity about what lies beneath will most certainly make for a great read.

From a journey through the contemporary South African jazz scene to asking the tough questions we all want to know answers to, please join me in giving Thando Khumalo a warm welcome to Just Trimmings!  

And yes, Thando, you may absolutely get a little, even a lot, controversial and probe!