Ivete Marlene Rosária Mafundza, better known as Iveth, is one of Mozambique's most renowned rap singers. Concerned about the impact of her message and the role of music as a factor in social transformation, she has given her career a sense of mission, to give others what to think and what to do for a better Mozambique and a better world.
Today, consolidated in music, what many don\'t realise is that her first passion was dance. Like many girls at the time, she ventured into the Xitsuketa, Pop Music and Pantsula dances, musical rhythms that were successful at the time. As she grew up, she lost her ability to dance. But another star was born, this one we interview in which we delve into the paths she travelled.
Influenced by her brother, Patrick, and her friends who liked rap, Iveth fell in love with this style of music. In 1997, she started singing at school. She made songs with friends who belonged to musical groups in her neighbourhood. Her passion became solid when she got to know the career and works of rapper Lauryn Hill, recognising all the qualities she aspired to as an artist. Qualities that Iveth revealed in one of her songs: "If I want to be a singer, I want to be a singer like that woman".
About five years after starting to rap, Iveth began her musical career in the group The Beat Crew, where she not only learnt to rap consciously, but also to get involved in social activities. In 2007 she joined the group Cotonete Records where she released her single Amiga and later her first album O convite in 2010.
The start of her career wasn't easy, because Rap was mostly male and there were many voices who thought it unlikely that a woman would be in Hip-Hop and do it with a certain mastery. The evidence was there. Iveth always wanted to do better, not only in the studio, but also on stage, presenting herself in exuberant female attire and carrying messages that caused society to reflect.
The criticism was not long in coming. The song Amiga, which talks about violence, presented the violence suffered by women because they are women and caused debate. It wasn't common for songs to talk about the harm that men do to women. In this sense, the singer was fulfilling her mission, a real social intervention.
Iveth is a woman of strong convictions, a defender of women's causes who doesn't hide.
This is Iveth: woman, rapper, teacher and lawyer; unconditional fan of Paulina Chiziane, Graça Machel and Lauryn Hill.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW
