The vocalist, songwriter and producer turns a deeply personal chapter into an evocative debut album shaped by African rhythms, intimate storytelling and the freedom of renewal
Seen Here: From darkness to renewal, Miriam Altman turns transformation into sound. The Butterfly Project, her bold contemporary vocal jazz debut, blends African rhythms, soulful storytelling and soaring vocals into an intimate journey of courage, release and becoming. Out 18 September 2026. Photo Credit: Supplied
JOHANNESBURG, 14 September 2026 — Some albums are collections of songs. Others are journeys.
For South African vocalist, songwriter and producer Miriam Altman, The Butterfly Project is both — an eight-track exploration of darkness, courage, transformation and the exhilaration of becoming something new.
The contemporary vocal jazz debut, set for release on 18 September 2026, draws on African rhythms, spacious jazz arrangements and Altman’s distinctive three-octave vocal range to tell a deeply personal story of change.
Her music sits comfortably between intimacy and movement: quiet, contemplative passages give way to richly textured arrangements, while African rhythmic influences provide a pulse beneath the storytelling. The result is jazz that is sophisticated without losing its emotional immediacy.
Altman’s emerging body of work has already established her as an artist interested in pushing beyond conventional genre boundaries. Her previous releases include The Train, Don’t You Worry ’Bout a Thing and Undun, with The Train having reached the semi-final stage of the International Songwriting Competition.
From darkness to transformation
At the heart of The Butterfly Project is a period in Altman’s life marked by difficult choices and profound change.
The album’s title emerged from an unexpected image after she moved to Cape Town: a wall in her home covered in black caterpillars, with remarkably few butterflies eventually emerging.
Rather than treating the butterfly as a conventional symbol of beauty, Altman uses it as a more complex metaphor for survival, transformation and the courage required to change one’s life.
That idea finds its emotional centre in “Butterfly”, a song framed as a plea to a survivor: how did you come to thrive?
“The Butterfly Project is about finding the courage to change your life,” says Altman. “I wanted the music to carry the weight of those decisions and share the energy of feeling fully alive. The music enables me to express things the words alone can’t.”
It is a philosophy that runs through the album — music not simply as entertainment, but as a language for experiences that can be difficult to articulate.
Jazz with an African pulse
Co-produced with award-winning pianist Luyanda Madope, the album brings together an accomplished ensemble of South African musicians, including Tendai Shoko, Sunnyboy Mthimunye, Lungile Kunene, Tlale Makhene, Dalisu Ndlazi, Kuki Mokubetsi, Seredeal “Shaggy” Scheepers, Byron Abrahams and Keno Carelse.
Their collective contribution gives the project a distinctive musical architecture.
Balladry and intimate vocal passages create space for Altman’s voice, while the band’s interplay introduces movement, groove and rhythmic intensity. Her lower register brings warmth and resonance, before opening into soaring soprano lines.
The music therefore moves in much the same way as the story it tells — from restraint and vulnerability towards release.
Songs of release and awakening
Among the album’s defining moments is “It’s Over”, a jazz-funk track that transforms the emotional weight of leaving a long-term relationship into an expression of freedom.
Elsewhere, “A Spirit Awakened” captures the return of creative energy. Its ethereal atmosphere sits against a propulsive jazz groove, creating space for vocal improvisation and a sense of artistic reawakening.
The track has already attracted attention ahead of the album release, with Altman describing it as a song about the small moments that can catalyse profound change and reconnect a person with their creative self.
Together, the songs create an album that is less about looking backwards than understanding how difficult experiences can become catalysts for renewal.
Taking the project to the stage
The story of The Butterfly Project will move beyond the recording studio this spring with a specially created live concert.
The Butterfly Project – Live in Concert has been designed around the album’s emotional progression — from longing and struggle to renewal and celebration.
With grand piano and a full band, Altman will bring the recordings to life through expanded arrangements that create room for soaring vocals, instrumental dialogue and rhythmic energy.
The Johannesburg performance is scheduled for 10 October 2026 at Wits Theatre, with the Cape Town performance following on 5 November 2026 at The Star Theatre at the Homecoming Centre. Current event listings confirm the Johannesburg concert for 10 October at Wits Theatre Complex and the Cape Town performance for 5 November.
For Altman, the stage becomes another part of the transformation — taking a private story and opening it into a shared experience with an audience.
A project about becoming
There is something deliberately human about The Butterfly Project.
Its central metaphor is not simply the butterfly emerging from the caterpillar, but the uncertainty of the process itself — the darkness, disruption and courage that precede transformation.
Altman turns that experience into contemporary vocal jazz that is emotionally exposed yet musically assured, combining African rhythmic sensibilities with jazz, soul and storytelling.
The album ultimately asks a deceptively simple question: What does it take to become who you were meant to be?
With The Butterfly Project, Miriam Altman answers not with certainty, but with music — one that embraces the messiness of change and celebrates the freedom that can follow.
The Butterfly Project is released on 18 September 2026.
Live in concert:
Johannesburg: Wits Theatre — 10 October 2026
Cape Town: The Star Theatre, Homecoming Centre — 5 November 2026
