‘Audiences Will Love To Hate Her’, Faith Baloyi On Playing Queen Asili In ‘Blood Psalms’! U Blood Psalmsthe uchavi are like rain-making druids, so their control over the elements makes them valuable to kings like Letsha of Akachi.
“The Uchavi are the magical scholars of this realm,” says producer Layla Swart. “Their homeland was shot in Gwadan, which has a well-known reputation for being the birthplace of Xhosa Xhosa ‘witchcraft’.”
Queen Asili has become King Letshi’s most trusted advisor, but she worries about her influence waning now that she can’t summon rain during a severe drought.
To strengthen her position, she employed her daughter Tozama (Class Law Season 2 winner Tumie Ngumla with iNumber Number) to marry Letsha. With the wedding imminent, her son Tebora (SAFTA nominee Niza Jay from the Academy Award shortlist It’s early), and husband, Ntuka (Andile Nebulein z Generations: The Legacy, who was Chadwick Boseman’s dialect coach Black Panther), are headed to join her at Akachi Citadel.
Uchawi’s other key characters include SAFTA nominee Thando Thabete (Reika, Housemates, How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding) as the voice of the god Hek on earth and Khanya Mkangis (Unmarried S3, Queen) as Nymph. Consider the actresses who play the serpentine elementals surrounding Nymph: SAFTA winner Theola Booysens (Rail), head of make-up and prosthetics, says it took them four hours to paint them green and cover them with snakeskin prosthetics, and another two hours to take it all off.
We caught up with Baloya to learn more about her starring role in the biggest and most ambitious series Showmax has ever produced:
Tell us about your character Blood Psalms.
Queen Asili is the chief matriarch of the Uchawi tribe, but she does not live with her tribe.
She currently serves as a magician to King Letshi and the Akachi tribe. However, she uses her powers for her own benefit. Not only does she manipulate King Letsha, she also controls the kingdom of Akachi.
She is trying to regain the power that her own people and her own kingdom have lost, so much is at stake.
She will get rid of anyone and use anyone, including our own children.
She is a “terrible” person; viewers will love to hate her.
What do you like most about Queen Asili?
With a storyline like this, it’s clear that there is a lot of patriarchy, and with patriarchy comes toxic male rule.
So with her powers, Queen Asili tries to balance things out. In her own way, Asili fights for women’s space in a male-dominated structure that I admire so much.
She is such a wonderful character and I had so much fun portraying her. This character can be so open that I had a lot of room to play and develop the character in my own way.
What was the most difficult in Blood Psalms?
I had to constantly remind myself that I am not Queen Asili because of the many horrible things she does to people. I had to rebuild myself by doing activities that helped me get back to myself.
Snakes were another problem. I don’t like snakes, so I had to overcome my fear of snakes. I’m very proud of myself for making friends with Snow White, but I’m glad it’s over.
Why viewers should watch Psalms Blood?
Because nothing like it has ever been done before, from the topics studied to the aesthetics in general. It is the first of its kind.
Premieres on Showmax September 28
Shot in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and North West Provinces, Blood Psalms is a Showmax Original in partnership with CANAL+, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, the Eastern Cape Economic Development Corporation (ECDC), the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the MultiChoice Innovation Fund, which supports South Africa’s most exciting entrepreneurs, enabling them to realize their unique, innovative and creative business ideas.
The first two episodes Blood Psalms It will premiere on Showmax on September 28, 2022 with new episodes every Wednesday until the end of November 2022.
Add Blood Psalms to your Showmax Watchlist:
https://www.showmax.com/eng/tvseries/376jbv7a-blood-psalms
Watch the trailer:
See an introduction to the Uchawi tribe:
