IT STARTED slowly. She woke up one morning and her voice wasn’t as smooth and sweet as it used to be.
Simphiwe Dana put her husky voice down to having given it her all on stage when she performed at Mam’ Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s memorial at Bassline last year.
She wasn’t singing out of tune, but “my voice wasn’t going where I wanted it to”, she says. She knew something was wrong and wasted no time getting a professional medical opinion.
Simphiwe (39) was stunned when doctors diagnosed her with vocal dysphonia, a disorder in which the muscles that generate a person’s voice go into periods of spasm.
“I thought I was going to lose my voice forever,” she tells DRUM.
Vocal dysphonia, doctors told her, is caused by voice misuse such as not warming up the voice properly before singing.
“I’d been straining my voice for years and ended up with holes in my vocal muscles.”
Simphiwe has always sung her heart out. “When I perform my spirit takes over and I’m in a different space, I don’t even see people,” she says.
Her instrument was damaged, but luckily it was not beyond repair. Simphiwe needed surgery, but was worried about how it would affect her vocal range.
“It wasn’t nodules like Whitney Houston and Brenda Fassie had. Once you have nodules your voice will never be the same again, even after surgery. But it was quite an intense surgery. I was freaked out.”
She says she thought she wasn’t going to make it through the two-hour operation. I even sent my friends instructions on what to do in case I don’t make it out alive,” she says with a laugh.
Denne historien er fra 5 December 2019-utgaven av Drum English.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra 5 December 2019-utgaven av Drum English.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Homegrown Heroes
Drum speaks to two volunteers in the Covid-19 vaccine trial and the professor heading the team in Africa
The Big Clean Up
Whenever a Covid-19 case is confirmed at a shop, they call in the deep-cleaners. We find out exactly how they disinfect stores and supermarkets
I'm Back & Better!
Babes Wodumo shares what she’s been up to in lockdown – and there’s some new music on the horizon
Not An Easy Ride
Taxi commuters and industry players tell DRUM what’s driving them to defy lockdown rules
Mam' Mary Bows Out
Iconic actress Mary Twala is fondly remembered by friends and family for her humour and talent
‘They Lived For Each Other'
This Cape Town teen’s parents died from Covid-19 on the same day. Now she’s alone and battling the virus too
Stranger Than Fiction
For actor Mangaliso Ngema and his daughter Khosi Ngema, her role in Blood & Water was like watching their family’s real-life story unfold
I Was Raped By A Pastor
His accusations against a well-known man of the cloth turned an Eastern Cape man’s life into turmoil but now more victims have spoken out
My Fight With Life And Death
More Covid-19 patients, too few beds and staff, constant sanitising and personal fears – a Western Cape doctor shares her experience
I AM ENOUGH
Ten years after being set alight, Thembi Maphanga is living life to the fullest
