Tuelo

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Kevin Wenzel

Tuelo

press release: $10adv $12DOS

media release: Enigmatic South African songwriter and artist Tuelo conjures up a breathtaking tribute to her mother with the release of the video for “Saint Margaret” -- an invigorating ode to the virtues we learn from our parents and the irreplaceable mark they make on our lives. It’s just the beginning of what Tuelo (full name: Tuelo Minah) has in-store over the next year, including a run of North American run dates kicking off on October 30th at NYC’s Rockwood Music Hall. Full dates below. 

While the track was originally released in 2017 (with Consequence debuting the song, calling it “a warm and simple bit of revival folk”), today’s video release serves as a metaphorical analysis for its themes of honor, nurture and remembrance. Harkening to Tuelo’s roots, the video symbolically uses totems from her culture to illustrate emotional appreciation for her mother’s unwavering support.

Filmed at a finca (farm house) outside of Santa Fe de Antioquia in Colombia, and starring her creative/musical collaborator Kevin Wenzel, the video tells a story of selfless giving and love, also setting the scene for what will become a multi-part music film which will unveil itself along with her forthcoming debut album (including a teaser for the next installment at the end).

Of the video, Tuelo said “I wrote the song Saint Margaret for my mother... I wanted to remember how mum has always been a source of refuge, how kind, generous and important she is to me. She loves flowers, but lives in the desert, so the setting for the shoot was what I imagined her dream garden would be like. In the video, I symbolically used the “languages of love” from an African perspective to convey the story of a journey: giving power through a walking stick, being cleansed with water, being fed (mum loves to feed people), and in parts of Africa after a funeral the family is given new shoes/sandals to wear as a symbol of “moving on.” The last element is the necklace as a remembrance of the grace of mum. As a sum, the video is about safety - a primary issue for me - and a major theme of the [forthcoming] album.”

As an artist, Tuelo uses her powerhouse and uniquely stirring vocals to create a soulful wave of art-rock inspired by the great traditions of South African protest music and the polyrhythms and tonalities of her native Tswana and Khoikhoi tribes. 

Growing up on a remote farm amid the political upheaval during the end of apartheid in South Africa, Tuelo had never considered herself a musician until she ventured alone to New York City at age 17, where she worked as a vocalist with appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and Grammy-winning albums like Angelique Kidjo’s Eve and Sings. 

She frequented open-mic nights in New York City to test out her own music, and released her multi-genre EP ‘Saint Margaret’ in 2017, which led to praise from Afropunk as “an inspiring and spiritual experience” and Huffington Post who called her "New York's Best Singer (and the world’s).”