Esa Williams - Nakupenda (Ft. Nonku Phiri)
Description
”Nakupenda is the second single from my upcoming album Dala What We Must—a project that lives somewhere between documentary and celebration, tracing the threads that connect the African diaspora across continents.”
“Nakupenda” means I love you in Swahili. It’s more than a phrase here—it’s the emotion I carried with me while creating this body of work.
This track began almost by accident. Back in 2014, my sisters insisted I listen to Nonku Phiri —“Her voice is unlike anyone else’s,” they said. They were right. When Nonku and I first met, the chemistry was instant, but it wasn’t until she visited me in London in 2015 that the seeds of Nakupenda were sown. We weren’t chasing a song—we were chasing feeling. Looping her voice, running it through FX, letting accidents turn into sparks. They were just fragments then, but fragments filled with light.
Nearly a decade later, I reopened those recordings. The rawness was still alive, as if they had been waiting. I asked myself—what if we took this moment and let it breathe inside Amapiano? Could we push the genre deeper, give it new textures while keeping its pulse intact? That’s when Nakupenda came into focus: a love song stretched across time, from bedroom studio sketches to full-band reinterpretation.
This track is about connection that refuses to expire. About patience, collaboration, and the joy of rediscovery. Nonku is from rich musical legacy musical royalty—her father Ray Phiri was frontman of the legendary band Stimela, and was also sought out by Paul Simon. Her voice here feels both timeless and brand new.
Release Date: Feb 06, 2026