Kelly Khumalo’s maiden Gospel Explosion concert was hosted this past Friday at the Lyric Theatre in Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, joining many others in the commemoration of Good Friday celebration, and featured gospel giants such as Dr Hlengiwe Mhlaba and Taki Ndou.
The success of the show, which was initially planned for two nights, inspired the songstress to move the gospel show to the Vaal on May 28, she revealed.
“I’m so grateful to my fans for coming out, last night (Friday night) was a dream come true. I wanted to do this show in 2020, but the pandemic happened and we couldn’t. Thank you to Dr Hlengiwe Mhlaba and Taki Ndou for their generosity and grace. We sang our hearts out for God and we look forward to doing it again,” she said.
On the night, Khumalo performed a number of gospel songs including God We Need More, Kubo Bonke OThixo, Webangcwele, Retshepile Wena and Esiphambanweni, featuring Dr Mhlaba among others. The songstress didn’t disappoint with her wardrobe changes, adorning looks from her long-time collaborator Tsotetsi TK, with her first look being an emerald green gown, which was followed by a gold and black suit with beaded detail at the shoulders.
Known as the Voice of Africa, a name she got after the release of her 2020 album VOA, which features songs like Empini, Khumalo said the concert was a long-standing dream of hers that was inspired by her own love for gospel music that she has carried since her teen days.
This love was so great that it inspired her own gospel single release Esiphambanweni, peaking the charts and somewhat introducing her into the gospel fraternity. But she is not a gospel artist, she re-emphasised to the paper.
“The release of Esiphambanweni has landed me in hot water because people had expectations of me migrating fully into the gospel space. But the truth is that I am not a gospel artist. I don’t need to be one to sing gospel,” she said emphatically.
The Gospel Explosion was MCd by the popular Pastor Bonsai Shongwe at the Lyric Theatre, who also discovered Khumalo and was her first manager.
Khumalo was discovered after entering SABC1’s then gospel competition Crux Gospel Star, where she and her sister Zandi Khumalo were competing for the grand prize that included a recording deal. Although she didn’t win that competition, she has successfully built her own career as an Afro-soul singer for close to 20 years now.