Official 2026 release photograph: Love on Repeat, Vol. 1 - EP — Apple Music
Shekhinah is Shekhinah Thandi Donnell, born in Pietermaritzburg in 1994 and long based in Durban. She served a televised apprenticeship, reaching the top 32 of Idols SA in 2011 and the top 6 in 2012 while still a teenager, before developing into a songwriter of polished, radio-fluent pop with an R&B undertow.
Her 2017 debut Rose Gold is certified multi-platinum and swept the 2018 South African Music Awards, taking Album of the Year and Female Artist of the Year; 'Suited' is certified diamond and 'Please Mr' platinum. In 2019 she founded Rosefest, a festival platforming women in music, whose 2025 edition ran at Johannesburg's Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in August. After Trouble In Paradise (2021, certified gold) she self-released her third album Less Trouble in August 2025, following it with the EP Love on Repeat, Vol. 1 in June 2026.
The Ascots did not simply add another marquee to the Durban July. It turned race-day hospitality into a boutique festival, raising the expectation of what premium Durban July experiences can become.
Shekhinah’s Love on Repeat, Vol. 1 shows why 3-Step is becoming an important middle ground for South African R&B voices: rhythmic enough for DJs, spacious enough for singers and emotional enough for stories to breathe.
One day after Cleo Sol released Gentlewoman, three of its songs were already inside Apple Music South Africa’s Top 10. The speed of that response says something interesting about this country’s appetite for music that does not need to shout to command attention.
SAMA32’s shortlist shows a South African music industry no longer defined by one centre. From Durban Gqom to Maskandi, Amapiano, Jazz, Gospel and regional scenes, the country’s sound is spreading power across many hubs.
For years, Rowlene could become the emotional centre of somebody else’s song without owning the headline. With Some Strings Attached, a major international spotlight and an upcoming Johannesburg album launch, that balance is beginning to shift.
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