Back to love: Judith Sephuma on legacy, music and the long road home

The first thing Judith Sephuma tells me is that she hasn’t really stopped moving. We’re speaking in the aftermath of yet another busy weekend of performances, the kind that have defined much of her life for more than two decades. And even now, with a new album out, her calendar is shaped by the stage rather than the studio.

“We have been performing,” she says, her voice warm, measured, familiar. “But not for the album.” It’s a curious thing to hear from an artist who, in 2025, releasedWhen Winter Fades, her latest body of work and her first in five years. But Sephuma is deliberate about how she introduces new music into the world.

“Whenever an album is released, I believe it’s very important to create a space where people can come and listen,” she explains. “Because you are introducing the new music to them. We don’t take for grantedthe fact that people know us.

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I don’t take for granted the fact that people know me.” It’s a statement that reveals as much about her humility as it does about her philosophy. Often described as the queen of Afro jazz, with a career that has spanned continents and earned her multiplatinum success, Sephuma approaches her audience as something to be nurtured, not assumed. “I love live performances so much,” she continues, “that I create a space for them to come sit down and listen to the music and then they can connect with it.” That space, forWhen Winter Fades, is still to come: a live concert set for 4 July at Emperors Palace, where she will perform the album with her full band.

It’s a moment she speaks about with anticipation. To understand why that moment matters so much, you have to consider the scale of what Sephumahas built. Since the release of her debut albumA Cry, A Smile, A Dancein 2001, a triple platinum landmark that introduced her voice to the world, she has remained one of South Africa’s most enduring and influential musicians.

Her sound, a seamless blend of jazz, Afro-soul and gospel, has travelled far beyond the country’s borders, filling venues across Europe, the US and the UK. Long before that debut, she was stepping onto significant stages. In 1999, she performed at Thabo Mbeki’s presidential inauguration and sang for Nelson Mandela, moments that would come tosymbolise the beginning of a remarkable journey.

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