Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu had known each other for more than two decades. Their first collaboration only happened when they stopped looking for the obvious song — and an unfamiliar songwriter arrived in an Instagram inbox with another idea.
“Isifiso Sami” is interesting not because two established artists finally collaborated, but because both had to move away from what was most familiar to make the collaboration worthwhile. Dr Smama surrendered authorship for the first time, Nhlanhla stepped outside the obvious Mafikizolo-adjacent choice, and Maskandi entered the record as a storytelling language rather than a decorative heritage reference.
There was an easy version of a Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu collaboration.
The friendship was ready long before the collaboration. The missing ingredient was never access to each other. It was a song worth waiting for.
That may be exactly why it took them more than twenty years to make one.
They had known each other since the earlier stages of their respective careers. Nhlanhla became one half of one of South Africa’s most recognisable musical partnerships through Mafikizolo. Dr Smama, born Sindile Simama, established himself within Afro-soul and gospel-rooted songwriting while maintaining another life entirely as a practising medical doctor.
A collaboration was always available to them.
But availability was not enough.
They did not want a record that simply placed two familiar voices together and relied on recognition to do the rest.
So they waited.
The eventual answer, “Isifiso Sami”, came from somewhere neither of them had quite planned for: an unknown songwriter approaching Dr Smama through Instagram with a Maskandi-influenced composition.
For an artist accustomed to writing his own material, the first surprise was that he listened.
The second was that he wanted to sing it.
“Isifiso Sami”, released on 4 September, marks the first time in Dr Smama’s recording career that he has performed a song written by an outside composer.
That matters because songwriting is not incidental to his identity.
He has written for performers including Berita, Nokwazi and the late Lundi Tyamara, building a musical language from African storytelling, gospel and soul. Taking somebody else’s song therefore required surrendering a degree of authorship that had previously been central to how he worked.
“If you only sing your own songs, you stay inside your comfort zone,” he says.
It is a surprisingly revealing sentence.
Artists are often encouraged to describe growth as expansion: write more, produce more, take greater control, become more self-sufficient.
For Dr Smama, growth on this record required giving something up.
“When this track found its way to me, the Maskandi feel grabbed me immediately,” he says. “It forced me out of my usual gospel soul space and challenged me vocally to step into someone else’s story.”
And then there was Nhlanhla.
After twenty years of knowing one another, the challenge was not getting her onto a record. It was finding a record that justified the history behind the collaboration.
The pair consciously resisted what they regarded as the predictable option.
Putting Nhlanhla Mafu on an Afro-pop song that leaned too closely towards a familiar Mafikizolo vocabulary might have made immediate commercial sense. It also risked making the collaboration feel predetermined.
They wanted something that belonged specifically to the two of them.
“We have been friends for over two decades, so working together was always inevitable, but we wanted something that felt distinct and honest,” Nhlanhla says.
“When I heard ‘Isifiso Sami’, I was sold instantly.”
At the centre of the song is a Maskandi-influenced guitar figure placed inside a contemporary Afro-soul setting.
That combination enters a wider conversation happening across South African popular music.
Traditional forms are not sitting politely in an archive waiting for younger audiences to rediscover them. Their musical languages continue resurfacing inside contemporary recordings, sometimes through direct revival and sometimes in fragments: guitar patterns, vocal approaches, storytelling structures, rhythm, dress, language or visual identity.
Maskandi in particular has been pushing beyond assumptions about where it belongs and who its audience is.
The danger, of course, is that “traditional influence” becomes another production aesthetic — a recognisable signifier placed onto a modern record because heritage is fashionable.
“Isifiso Sami” is more interesting when understood through the emotional logic of Maskandi storytelling rather than the presence of guitar alone.
Its subject is devotion.
Not desire in its quickest, most disposable form, but the deliberate choice to remain beside somebody despite external noise.
Dr Smama describes the love in the song as “an intentional, vulnerable choice”.
Nhlanhla hears something else inside it too: a way of expressing affection that she believes contemporary music can sometimes rush past.
“You simply do not hear people express devotion or declare love like this anymore,” she says.
For her, the song carries “a depth of lyricism and traditional storytelling” that can be lost in a music economy built for immediacy.
There is an easy temptation to turn that into a generational complaint — old music had substance, new music does not — but “Isifiso Sami” does not need that argument.
South African music has always adapted.
The point is not that digital culture has destroyed storytelling. It is that every technological shift changes what gets rewarded. Songs now compete inside timelines designed for speed. Hooks can be judged in seconds. Releases arrive constantly. Artists have to turn music into content before audiences have finished hearing the music itself.
Against that tempo, patience can become an artistic decision.
Dr Smama and Nhlanhla’s twenty-year wait is almost absurdly patient.
So is allowing a song from an unfamiliar writer to interrupt a familiar creative process.
So is leaning into Maskandi without attempting to recreate Maskandi wholesale.
What emerges from those decisions is less a grand fusion of genres than a conversation between them.
The traditional guitar does not need to turn Dr Smama into a Maskandi artist. Nhlanhla does not need to abandon the musical history audiences associate with her. Afro-soul does not have to disappear either.
Instead, the song allows each vocabulary to remain recognisable while creating enough friction for something different to happen between them.
That may be what the pair were waiting for all along.
Not simply an opportunity to finally say they had collaborated.
A reason to.
Reporting basis: Based primarily on the material supplied for “Isifiso Sami” and the artist statements reproduced in the story, including Dr Smama’s account of recording an outside composition for the first time, the Instagram approach that led him to the song, the pair’s friendship of more than two decades and their decision to wait for material that felt distinct rather than predictable. The central release facts were independently cross-checked against IOL, SA Music Magazine and the day-of-release report from Egoli Jozi News. Those sources confirm the 4 September 2026 release, the Afro-soul/Maskandi construction, the artists’ first studio collaboration and Dr Smama’s first performance of an externally written composition. Dr Smama’s SAMA30 nomination for Isipho was checked against the SABC’s official nominee list, while his public Spotify biography confirms his MBChB from UCT and songwriting work for artists including Berita, Nokwazi and Lundi Tyamara.
Story index Key points, people & topics
Key points & topics
- Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu had known each other for more than two decades. Their first collaboration only happened when they stopped looking for the obvious song — and an unfamiliar songwriter arrived in an Instagram inbox...
- After more than 20 years of friendship, Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu finally found their first collaboration in the least predictable place: a Maskandi-influenced song sent through Instagram by a songwriter Dr Smama did not know...
- After 20 years of friendship, Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu finally collaborate on “Isifiso Sami” — the first outside composition Dr Smama has recorded.
Frequently asked Answers from the desk
What is Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu’s new song called?
Their first recording collaboration is titled Isifiso Sami.
When was Isifiso Sami released?
Isifiso Sami was released on 4 September 2026.
What does Isifiso Sami mean?
Isifiso Sami translates as My Wish.
Who are the singers on Isifiso Sami?
The song is performed by Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu.
Who is Dr Smama?
Dr Smama is the stage name of South African singer songwriter and practising medical doctor Sindile Simama.
Is Dr Smama really a medical doctor?
Yes. His public biography states that he holds an MBChB from the University of Cape Town.
How long have Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu known each other?
The artists say they have been friends for more than 20 years.
Is Isifiso Sami their first collaboration?
Yes. It is their first studio recording together.
Did Dr Smama write Isifiso Sami?
No. The release is significant because it is the first outside composition Dr Smama has recorded in his career.
Who wrote Isifiso Sami?
A public release post from Nhlanhla Mafu credits GMasterMusiq as the author.
How we reported this Sources, verification & accountability
- Reporting type
- News
- Verification
- Official source
- Reporter / responsible desk
- Viranova Music Desk
- Primary evidence
- Based primarily on the material supplied for “Isifiso Sami” and the artist statements reproduced in the story, including Dr Smama’s account of recording an outside composition for the first time, the Instagram approach that led him to the song, the pair’s friendship of more than two decades and their decision to wait for material that felt distinct rather than predictable. The central release facts were independently cross-checked against IOL, SA Music Magazine and the day-of-release report from Egoli Jozi News. Those sources confirm the 4 September 2026 release, the Afro-soul/Maskandi construction, the artists’ first studio collaboration and Dr Smama’s first performance of an externally written composition. Dr Smama’s SAMA30 nomination for Isipho was checked against the SABC’s official nominee list, while his public Spotify biography confirms his MBChB from UCT and songwriting work for artists including Berita, Nokwazi and Lundi Tyamara.
- Additional verification
- “Isifiso Sami” is a contemporary Afro-soul love song built around Maskandi-influenced guitar and themes of commitment, vulnerability and deliberately choosing another person despite outside pressure. Multiple reports published around release confirm that Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu had known one another for more than two decades but had never previously recorded together. The release is also a documented creative departure for Dr Smama: despite being an established songwriter himself, this is reported as the first song in his recording career written by an outside composer. His 2023 album Isipho was subsequently nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album at SAMA30. A public release post from Nhlanhla Mafu credits @gmastermusiq as the song’s author, @august_muzika as producer and @bospianii1 with vocal production, mixing and mastering. GMasterMusiq also has an established public catalogue across Spotify, Apple Music and Music In Africa rather than being an anonymous songwriter, so the article’s “unknown songwriter” framing should be understood as unknown to Dr Smama when the approach happened, not publicly unidentified.
- Image
- Dr Smama · Supplied by Thami Mthembu
Edited under our Editorial Standards and How We Report process. Spotted an error? Open the correction form below, or email [email protected].
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Filed by Viranova Music Desk for the Music desk · Johannesburg, South Africa. Published 06 Sept 2026.
Sources
Primary material
Viranova obtained, attended or witnessed this directly.
- Isifiso Sami was released on 4 September 2026 as the first recording collaboration between Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu Dr Smama / Isifiso Sami release material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 6 September 2026
- Dr Smama and Nhlanhla Mafu have known each other for more than two decades and deliberately waited for a song that felt distinct rather than making an obvious collaboration Dr Smama / Isifiso Sami release material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 6 September 2026
- Isifiso Sami is the first song in Dr Smama’s recording career that he performed despite not writing the composition himself Dr Smama / Isifiso Sami release material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 6 September 2026
- Dr Smama says the Maskandi character of the composition pushed him outside his usual gospel and soul comfort zone and required him to enter another writer’s story Dr Smama / Isifiso Sami release material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 6 September 2026
- Dr Smama describes the love in Isifiso Sami as an intentional and vulnerable choice to remain beside somebody despite outside noise Dr Smama / Isifiso Sami release material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 6 September 2026
- Nhlanhla Mafu says the pair wanted their first collaboration to feel distinct and honest and that she connected with Isifiso Sami immediately Dr Smama / Isifiso Sami release material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 6 September 2026
- Nhlanhla Mafu says Isifiso Sami carries a form of devotion lyricism and traditional storytelling that she believes can be lost amid fast digital music cycles Dr Smama / Isifiso Sami release material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 6 September 2026
Secondary material
Reported first by another publication or organisation, and credited here.
- IOL confirms Isifiso Sami as a 4 September 2026 release combining contemporary Afro soul and Maskandi guitar IOL Entertainment accessed 6 September 2026
- IOL confirms that Isifiso Sami is the first outside composition Dr Smama has recorded and the first studio collaboration between him and Nhlanhla Mafu IOL Entertainment accessed 6 September 2026
- Egoli Jozi News identifies Dr Smama as Sindile Simama a practising medical doctor and SAMA30-nominated Afro-soul artist Egoli Jozi News accessed 6 September 2026
- The SABC’s official SAMA30 nominee list places Smama’s Isipho among the nominees for Best Adult Contemporary Album SABC accessed 6 September 2026
- Dr Smama’s public artist biography states that he holds an MBChB from the University of Cape Town and has written for artists including Lundi Tyamara Berita Thembisile Ntaka and Nokwazi Spotify accessed 6 September 2026
- Nhlanhla Mafu’s public release post credits GMasterMusiq as author August Muzika as producer and Bospianii1 for vocal production mixing and mastering Nhlanhla Mafu Instagram post mirrored by Imginn accessed 6 September 2026
- GMasterMusiq has an existing South African catalogue spanning Afropop mbaqanga Afro-house and other styles Music In Africa accessed 6 September 2026
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