Born in Mamelodi, Pretoria, Gabi Motuba fell in love with music at a very young age, going on to study jazz at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria.  She is not only a formally trained and award winning jazz vocalist, Motuba is also an effective music educator, musical arranger, a thoughtful cultural theorist and, perhaps most significantly, a powerfully original composer.  She can engage audiences in contexts ranging from clubs to recital halls. 

Motuba’s work is typically in conversation with world politics, black studies, religion and genre studies. She has worked to help provide young black artists with more opportunities through her work as a music facilitator.  Motuba has three albums to her credit: Sanctum Sanctorium (2016), Tefiti - Goddess of Creation (2018), The Wretched (2020), The Sabbath (2024).  She has been a Onebeat Virtual 3 Fellow (2022), a Morris Isaacson Artist in Residence (2023) a UWC Fellow (2023-4).  She currently teaches at Wits University and, through her affiliation to the M3 international network of musicians of underrepresented identities (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians), has both mentored and collaborated across borders. She was a contributor to the organisation's most recent collection of reflective essays.