IZWI LAMI (My Voice) is a new solo performance installation by Anelisa “Annalyzer” Stuurman, a genre-defying Xhosa vocalist and storyteller from the Eastern Cape.
Premiering at the National Arts Festival 2025, this work is a spiritual and sonic reckoning weaving ancestral memory, queer identity, and raw emotion into a transcendent live experience.
Fusing throat singing, Xhosa chant, spoken word, and operatic improvisation, IZWI LAMI unfolds in an immersive soundscape supported by live instrumentation and evocative visual projections. Rooted in indigenous expression yet reaching toward the experimental, this piece is a ceremony of healing and resistance, a space where vulnerability and defiance coexist.
This performance is minimal yet potent: a lead vocal, a chair, a projection, and a voice calling through time. IZWI LAMI is not just a performance it is an invitation to listen deeply, feel widely, and bear witness to the voice within.
Production Credits
Concept, vocals and performance: Anelisa “Annalyzer” Stuurman
Sound design: Thabo Pule
Project Manager: Anelisa Ramotholo
About the Artists
Anelisa “Annalyzer” Stuurman is a dynamic Xhosa vocalist, writer, and interdisciplinary performer whose work bridges ancestral sound with contemporary expression. Born and rooted in the Eastern Cape, Annalyzer’s creative voice is deeply shaped by her identity as a Black queer woman and her ongoing dialogue with spiritual, linguistic, and sonic heritage.
Trained in diverse vocal traditions from throat singing and Xhosa chant to operatic improvisation she blends genres with fearless honesty and meditative power. Her performances are more than artistic displays; they are acts of cultural reclamation, storytelling, and ritual. Annalyzer is known for crafting immersive, emotionally resonant experiences that honour indigenous knowledge while pushing the boundaries of form.
As both a soloist and collaborator, her work has featured in hybrid performance spaces, festivals, and digital platforms, always centering themes of healing, resistance, and transformation. IZWI LAMI (My Voice) marks her most ambitious solo performance to date — a ceremonial installation of voice, image, and memory.
- Venue: Thomas Pringle
- Location: Monument Building
- Ticket price: ZAR 80.00
- Programme type: Curated Programme
- Genre: Music
- Duration: 40 minutes
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Ages:
ALL AGES
