Photo: Jessica Garfield

Berlin-based South African composer and sonic artist Dumama has announced the release of her new album Towards an Expanse. Arriving on May 8th through Soundway Records, it follows her 2020 album Buffering Juju, a collaboration with German-Algerian artist Kechou. Blending ancestral Xhosa traditions with experimental electro-acoustic soundscapes, Dumama’s music is a force unto itself. Known for her rare mastery of the uhadi, a traditional Xhosa bowed instrument, Dumama is one of the few musicians in the world who plays it.

Towards an Expanse was born out of years of collaboration and evolution, first beginning to take shape in 2019 at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn under the guidance of acclaimed producer Shahzad Ismaily (Arooj Aftab, Cass McCombs, Laurie Anderson, and more). Dumama’s creative process took her from New York to Berlin, and also Johannesburg, where she worked with South African musician and producer Nandi Ndlovu, who reimagined the NYC recordings and infused them with a dynamic new energy. In additon to Ndlovu’s electronic reworkings, the album reached new sonic heights with the contributions of live musicians and extensive vocal production.

“Rooted in Black ontological understandings of time and memory”, as the press release describes, Towards an Expanse explores a world where grief, identity, and reclamation intersect. The album “meditates on learning to live with damage while regaining autonomy over how Black life is archived”.

Alongside the album news, Dumama has unleashed the stunning and haunting ‘What Did The Rain Say’. Speaking about the single, Dumama says:

“What Did The Rain Say” grew out of sitting with the language of water and the tension between drought and overwhelming storms. I invited friends to share their own rain stories, which turned the song into a collective reflection on what water might be communicating to us. The track began in an improvisational session shaped by spiritual jazz, gospel, and Black ecstatic traditions, and later evolved through looping and collaboration with family voices. “For me, the song became less about asking for rain and more about learning how to listen — to grief, ancestry, and the elemental forces that hold memory and transformation.”

‘What Did The Rain Say’ comes with an accompanying video directed by Jessica Garfield. Watch it now.