Nnunu Ramogotsi’s latest offering, Sephonono is not just an album, it’s a memory vault. Eight tracks steeped in Tswana village life, womanhood, faith and cultural pride, delivered with the calm confidence of an artist who waited for life to catch up with her voice
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
In a music era obsessed with urgency, Nnunu Ramogotsi chose patience. Thirteen years after her genre-defining debut Mmasonoko (2012), the Afro-jazz songstress—fondly known as Africa’s Jewel—has returned with Sephonono, an album shaped as much by time as by talent.
And the wait? It wasn’t accidental.
“I guess I got comfortable in my space because Mmasonoko is such a great album,” Nnunu explained to Time Out. “It scooped awards and I travelled around the world with it. I still get bookings because of the album.”
WHEN LIFE HITS PAUSE
When she finally felt ready to release new music, life stepped in with its own arrangements—health challenges, interrupted studio plans in South Africa, COVID-19 delays, and devastating losses.
“My studio manager at the time then passed on, I had collaborated with the legendary Steve Kekana and he also passed and things were at stand still,” she said. “There were a lot of challenges and I had to come back home to write new music.”
What followed wasn’t retreat—it was recalibration.
TWO DAYS, THIRTEEN YEARS
When the moment finally arrived, it arrived fast.
“The right moment came last year and it took two days and it turned out amazing,” Nnunu said. “There is so much growth and maturity in my new sound, I have surprised myself with what my voice can do now.”
Rooted in Tswana village life, Sephonono unfolds like an oral history—Nkoma restores balance, Leisong gathers elders around the hearth, Lo a Bidiwa summons the morafe to the kgotla, while the title track gently ushers a young woman into adulthood.
“Sephonono is a very personal album for me,” Nnunu said. “Every track reflects a piece of my journey.”
THE WAIT WAS THE WORK
At 13 years apart, Mmasonoko and Sephonono now sit like bookends—one introducing Africa’s Jewel, the other affirming her timelessness. With a new website at https://nnunuramogotsijazz.com, streaming globally and buzzing social media love—especially for the title track ”Sephonono”—Nnunu isn’t catching up. She’s arriving exactly on time.