mist tree Biography

mist tree remains one of South Africa's most mysterious artists. Her first album 'That Album' contains lyrics that are haunting; her music can only be described as diverse, poetic and eclectic. Lovers of Norah Jones, Dido, Katie Melua, Eva Cassidy and Enya (and oddly enough, trance house) become lovers of this music. One of the most original voices in South Africa today, mist tree combines emotion, thoughtfulness and spirituality into an album that turns away from the charged, macro political themes and instead explores what the bigger themes purport to express but, in fact, neglect: the singular, daily, human experience.

mist tree’s real name remains undisclosed. She wrote the lyrics and melodies for all the songs on the album, with the exception of Scarborough (parsley, sage) which is an old English ballad. In Scarborough she simply tweaked the lyrics and added a bridge explaining the meanings behind the herbs - each of which was specially chosen for its symbolic meaning when the song was first composed. Parsley was thought to sweeten past bitterness, sage was believed to make a person strong, thyme was a symbol for courage and rosemary represented faithfulness to the memory of love.

mist tree was born a Libran in Jo’burg in 1973 and started writing at the age of eleven. She turned to song writing when she was nineteen. Her first written song was ‘Marie’. Each song has a history behind it; meaningful lyrics are critical in mist tree’s work. ‘Well’ was composed at the Rhodes memorial in Cape Town when mist tree was feeling particularly alone. It has being showing on SABC 2 & # for eight months. The Zulu, translated and sung by Sello Masenya, means: Your ancestors are around you, talking to you.

She met her producer, Jonathan Shaw, over the Internet nearly seven years ago and they have worked on writing and recording songs ever since. The second album will be recorded over 2005/7and be released 2008. mist tree and her producer do all the research, marketing, artwork and graphic design for the album. All the songs are published by ada enup cc.