For our Apple Music Home Session series—in which we ask artists to record stripped-back versions of their biggest hits, alongside a cover of one of their favourite songs—singer, songwriter and activist Simphiwe Dana revisits some of her most impactful singles, bursting with the same combination of richly soulful arrangements and equally balanced matters of heart and mind at which she excels. “The pandemic taught me that I have everything I need inside of me,” she tells Apple Music. “That prayer can ground you and help you breathe. It gave me the space to realise what my next moves should be. Who I had become. And who I should become. This period [also] helped me rediscover myself. It helped me remember who I am, and was, before the world took away my innocence. The Simphiwe of Kulture Noir and the albums before that. It has helped me thus to challenge and dare myself. I have always looked at myself as my own competition.” Here, she revisits two of her most personal and political tracks. “‘Ndiredi’ was my breakout song, from my first album, Zandisile,” Dana explains. “It is a song that is still in high demand, in all my shows. This song was written at the height of my exasperation with not being afforded an opportunity to showcase my talent. ‘Usikhonzile’ is from my [2020] album Bamako. With the political upheavals the world is experiencing, this song appeals to the moral compass of our leaders, whilst also outlining what the traits of a good leader should be.” She closes with with poignant a cover of “Lakutshon’ ilanga”, as performed by Miriam Makeba and the Manhattan Brothers. “The song was written soon after the installation of the apartheid system in 1948,” Dana explains. “The apartheid regime was so brutal, especially to detractors and freedom fighters, including children. The song speaks of one who is searching for a loved one who disappeared during one of apartheid agents’ raids, etc. It is a painful story of loss and helplessness.”