A Voice Returns to the Spotlight
After a year off-stage, South Sudanese singer Hani Breva re-enters the limelight with the video for “Chide”. Filmed in Juba and Nairobi, the release has racked up thousands of plays within hours, confirming her enduring draw among Gen-Z listeners.
Moru Word, Universal Feelings
“Chide” means “cold” in Moru, a language spoken in Western Equatoria. Breva bends the metaphor into a love tale, singing about distance that chills the heart. “I wanted listeners to feel that shiver of missing someone,” she told Standard Zone News yesterday.
By foregrounding Moru, the artist joins a growing wave of South Sudanese creatives who weave indigenous tongues into pop. Ethnomusicologist Dr. Simon Ladu calls it “a quiet cultural revolution carried by melody, not manifestos”.
Visual Craft for the Streaming Era
Director Wani Francis frames muted blues and greys to echo the title’s frost. Slow-motion raindrops, neon reflections and empty streets paint loneliness without cliché. The clip’s 4K polish aligns with a regional trend toward export-ready visuals courting global platforms.
Music-video analyst Grace Nyibol notes that YouTube has become “the new FM dial” across the Nile basin, giving artists direct access to diaspora playlists from Kampala to Calgary.
Buzz Beyond Borders
Within twenty-four hours, Kenyan influencer Elsa Majimbo tweeted the link, while playlists in Lagos and Johannesburg flagged the track as “fresh find”. Such cross-border attention underscores East Africa’s intensifying role in shaping continental pop conversations once dominated by West African hubs.
Congolese critic Alain Makaba praises Breva’s baritone timbre, comparing it to rumba crooner Passi Jo. “The texture is different, yet the emotional frankness is shared,” he wrote in a weekend column for Brazzaville’s Télé-Sud journal.
What Comes Next for Hani Breva
Studio insiders hint at an EP slated for early 2026, featuring collaborations with Congolese guitarist Serge Mabiala and Ugandan producer Nessim. Breva remains coy, saying only, “I’m taking my time, letting the music breathe, just like South Sudan itself is learning to breathe.”
For now, “Chide” anchors playlists from Juba’s boda-boda taxis to Parisian Afro-trap lounges. Its success signals a maturing industry in the world’s youngest nation—one confident enough to share vulnerability without surrendering hope.