Thula Mama

I’m quite fascinated by Thula Mama (pronounced ‘tula mama’) which is a weekly singing group for mothers and babies, and the creator Helen Yeomans has also put together a CD.

You can hear samples over at the site but the songs are sung ‘a cappella’ using only the human voice. Just listening to samples was lovely! I was very fortunate to have parents that travelled quite a lot when I was a child and I lived in Zambia for two years, and this music really reminded me of the spiritually, grounding music that you hear all over Africa.

‘Thula Mama’ is named after a South African lullaby and is translated as translated as ‘hush, be quiet, don’t cry’. There are five samples over on the website and the songs are beautiful with lots of repetition and harmony which babies find soothing and calming. Helen also says that mothers find the music grounding and confidence building too. This is definitely music that you could meditate to.

Listen to samples, buy the CD, find out about or start your own singing group over at the Thula Mama website. It was a tough call but my favourite song was ‘Sho Sholoza’.