Cape Town singer-songwriter Auriol Hays is heading back to Mozambique for her second tour another chapter in a career built on curiosity, connection, great songs and an enduring belief in the power of music.

For Auriol Hays, music has never simply been about getting on stage and singing songs.

It is about paying attention. Listening. Observing. Connecting with people and somehow turning all of that into music.

Her motto says it beautifully: “Awareness Through Music.”

Now the Cape Town-based singer-songwriter is preparing to return to Mozambique for a second tour, a country and experience she already counts among her favourite journeys.

“Mozambique   we are headed there for our second tour,” she says when asked about the journeys that have meant the most to her, alongside AfrikaBurn with her daughter and the experience of “loving and being loved by someone extraordinary.”

It is a typically open answer from an artist who has never been afraid of allowing life to find its way into her work.

From the Western Cape to the world

Hays was born and raised across the Western Cape, from Mitchell’s Plain to Eerste River, in a musical household where her mother played piano and her brothers played guitar.

The soundtrack to her childhood was wonderfully varied, ranging from classical music to whatever her parents happened to enjoy, including Jim Reeves and Roger Whittaker.

Yet despite the music surrounding her, Hays kept her own singing and songwriting talents largely hidden.

That changed after a chance meeting with songwriter and producer Andre Scheepers, which ultimately resulted in her debut album, Behind Closed Doors.

The album announced a significant new South African voice. It earned Hays her first SAMA nomination, while she also performed at the SAMAs alongside Tumi and the Volume and Marcus Wyatt. Behind Closed Doors was subsequently selected by the Sunday Times as one of its Top 20 albums of 2009.

Since then, the stages have become considerably bigger.

Hays has performed at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, appeared with the Gauteng Big Band at the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, performed at the Zoo Lake Music Festival and 94.7 Christmas Wish Concert, and played to sold-out audiences at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda.

Her acclaimed Nina Simone introspective show in Cape Town also sold out, while her music has found its way onto film and television soundtracks.

But achievements and impressive stages only tell part of the Auriol Hays story.

Ask her what music means to her and the answer is immediate.

“Everything! It’s the final expression of what I feel is true. Or an absolute lie.”

Her purpose is equally simple: to find meaning and express it through music and words.

The professional listener

Perhaps the most revealing description Hays gives of herself is that she is a “professional listener.”

“What makes me stand out? My openness to people, I hope,” she says. “I am a professional listener who has learnt the value of discernment — finally!”

When inspiration is required, she doesn’t go searching for something complicated.

She simply steps outside and observes.

It is people  and their stories  that continue to feed her creativity.

“The most enjoyable aspect of my work is the people I meet along the way and the stories they share, which then become music.”

Her notebooks are consequently her most treasured possessions.

That fascination with language extends to the way she writes songs. Hays admits she can spend hours listening to someone simply because she is captivated by their command of English.

“I need to find new ways of clicking words in place for emotional resonance.”

It is an evocative description of songwriting and perhaps explains why Hays’ music has always reached beyond simply having a memorable melody.

No heroes, just human beings

Hays is equally reluctant to place people on pedestals.

Asked who her heroes are, she responds that she doesn’t have any.

“We are all fallible and fragile. It’s a gift seeing people struggle and try to be their best despite everything.”

It is an outlook that embraces imperfection, redemption and the possibility of change.

“I have no hierarchy of goodness when it comes to people. You either are, are not…or becoming. I enjoy a good plot twist and redemption arc.”

Even fear becomes creative material.

Her fears, she says, “keep changing and hiding in plain sight”, but once she can identify one with certainty, there is a good chance it will eventually become a song celebrating its “messy demise”.

Serious about music — but not herself

Spend any time reading Hays’ answers and another characteristic quickly emerges: a wicked sense of humour.

Her family has nicknamed her “the UN”, apparently for her ability to mediate family disputes.

Hays has her own interpretation.

“They have no idea how many times I saved all the rogue nations — family members — from nuclear annihilation from outside forces.”

And if music hadn’t worked out?

“Let me know if the UN has an open spot.”

Then there’s her recollection of a stage performance many years ago when her dress almost revealed considerably more of the singer than the audience had paid to see.

Or her preferred drinks order: beer and tequila, with the tequila sipped because, she insists, “I am a lady.”

Bad tequila, however, may be “ceremoniously spilled in honour of someone else’s ancestors”.

Food is another serious matter.

Hays doesn’t do “bad music, bad food or bad conversation”, and when asked what she complains about most, the answer is immediate: “Bad food. Especially if it is vegan.”

A soundtrack without boundaries

Her own listening choices offer another window into her musical world.

Five essential songs on her Spotify playlist move effortlessly across genres: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s Moonlight in Vermont, Ben Harper’s Joshua Tree, Hozier’s Sunlight, Chet Baker’s Almost Blue and Funkadelic’s epic Maggot Brain.

That eclecticism makes sense for an artist whose own musical journey has crossed jazz, pop, soul and deeply personal singer-songwriter territory.

Her album Call It Love  Anima Sola took a more thematic approach than her debut, exploring the unravelling of a long-term relationship and inviting listeners progressively deeper into its emotional landscape.

Songs including Better Man, For the Man You Are and My Love became standouts, alongside O Me Amor, the beautiful Portuguese ballad written by Lionel Bastos.

Mozambique calls again

Now another journey awaits.

The return to Mozambique feels particularly appropriate for an artist who doesn’t keep a conventional bucket list.

“I enjoy being surprised along the way,” Hays says. “So far it’s been a wild ride.”

There is also no retirement date pencilled into the diary.

That will happen, she says, “when I stop finding things to be excited about.”

Judging by her enthusiasm for creating, travelling, meeting people and returning to Mozambique, that day appears to be a very long way off.

Her dream gig says much about what continues to motivate her. Rather than naming Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall or some enormous festival, Hays dreams about organising a weekend concert for everyone she loves, filled with their favourite musicians and favourite people.

“Can you imagine what a jol that would be?” she asks.

That sense of joy sits at the centre of Auriol Hays.

Happiness, for her, is the sun streaming into a room as the world wakes up. On stage, she intends to have “way more fun than is legally allowed”. And the greatest lesson she has learnt is a wonderfully simple one:

“To treat attention as my altar.”

As she prepares for her second Mozambique tour, perhaps that is the key to understanding Auriol Hays.

She pays attention.

To people. To words. To love. To fear. To humour. To the world around her.

Then she turns what she finds into songs.

“My wishes and dreams? Only to create beautiful things and share it. Any way I can, with anyone who is open enough. The rest will take care of itself.”

For Auriol Hays, Mozambique is the next stop.

The music  and the wild ride  continues.

Auriol Hays – Mozambique Tour Dates, August 2026

21 August – Sumi, Tofo

22 August – Dathonga Jazz Brunch

22 August – Fim da Estrada, Inhambane

23 August – Dathonga, Tofo

26 August – Artist Workshop & Jam, Dathonga Cultural Hub

28 August – Kasumi, Vilanculos

29 August – Bahia Mar, Vilanculos

 SLAVE KING (Official Music Video)

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