Pumeza Matshikiza

South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza has signed a global recording deal with Decca Classics. The singer, who grew up in the violent townships of Cape Town during South Africa’s apartheid regime, will record a specially commissioned song by composer Paul Mealor set to the poem Invictus for her debut album. Former South African president Nelson Mandela was known to recite the poem to his fellow inmates during his 27-year incarceration on Robben Island. Her new Decca album will feature traditional African songs in her native Xhosa language, tracks accompanied by The African Children's Choir, including new arrangements of Paul Simon's Homeless (from Graceland), Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) andNkosi Sikelel’iAfrika (The National Anthem), and popular opera arias by Mozart and Puccini.