Life & Work

Koroga Festival promises great experience of Afro-pop music

mafikizolo

Mafikizolo. PHOTO | COURTESY

The big live music event of the weekend is the Koroga Festival that will be a celebration of South African and Kenyan music, fashion and culture with performances from a stellar line up of artistes.

The headline act for the show is the renowned South African dance act Mafikizolo accompanied by the dance production group, Uhuru.

Dela, the singer whose status was elevated to stardom when she recorded a Kiswahili version of the global hit “Hello” originally by British singer Adele, will bring the some Kenyan flair to the show.

This is the 13th edition of the outdoor festival that is organised by Nairobi’s Capital FM and has brought a whole feast of top African acts to Nairobi.

This year alone, superstars like Cameroonian Manu Dibango and Koffi Olomide from DRC, have played sold out concerts at Koroga.

Self-titled

Mafikizolo whose name in Zulu means “the new kids on the block” plays a sound that is a combination of house and pop music with kwela and marabi, which are some of the popular South African rhythms of the 1950s and 60s.

The group, formed by Theo Kgosinkwe, Nhlanhla Nciza, both singers- songwriters together with rapper Tebogo Mandingoane, arrived on the South African music scene in 1997 with their self-titled debut album and the follow up “Music Revolution two years later.

It was not until 2002 that Mafikizolo became a household name across Africa thanks to their version of a wedding song “Ndihamba Nawe” inspired by a 1960 recording by Sophie Mgcina

Phenomenal

Tragedy struck in 2004 when Mandingoane was shot dead in a road rage incident in Soweto, Johannesburg and in 2009, Nciza lost her 5-year son in a road accident.

Following the two incidents, Mafikizolo took a hiatus from the music business for a few years and reemerged with a song that was to become a phenomenal success and reestablish the group among Africa’s very best.

“Khona,” incidentally produced by and featuring Uhuru, was the first single from the 2013 album “Reunited.” It won Song of the Year and while Mafikizolo was named Best Group at the MTV Africa Music Awards in 2014.

“Khona” was followed by “Happiness” another partnership with Uhuru that also stormed the charts around Africa and many other parts of the world.

The group has continued to build on their international profile this year with the highlight being an invitation to perform at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland in January.

Their new single “Colors of Africa” is a collaboration with Tanzanian star Diamond Platnumz and features their long time partner, DJ Maphorisa from the group Uhuru.

The song that aims to promote the African dream and black excellence in all art forms currently appears on all major music charts across Africa. Kenyan star Jaguar also roped the duo into a guest appearance on his single “Going Nowhere” released in May this year.

A group of South African artists that has produced some of the most successful songs by Mafikizolo will also be on stage at this edition of Koroga Festival. Themba “DJ Maphorisa” Sekowe along with Sihle “DJ Clap” Dlalisa,” are the members of the group Uhuru.

The group has produced South African dance hits like the aforementioned songs by Mafikizolo, and others like “My name is” by DJ Zinhle featuring Busiswa and “Amapantsula” by Kabelo Manalane.

Their own song “Y-Tjukutja” released in 2013 became a massive hit across the world and they have also spread their wings across Africa with Maphorisa working with Nigerian acts, notably Wizkid with whom he recorded the song “The Sound” in 2015.

His biggest project to date has been producing the international hit “One Dance” for the US rapper Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla. The song has been No.1 in the US and UK and has been named one of the Top 30 best songs of 2016 by the respected Rolling Stone magazine.

Afro-pop

The Kenyan act at this edition of the Koroga Festival is Dela, the Afro pop singer who became a household name in 2015 after recording a Swahili version of the global hit “Hello” by Adele.

Actually, Dela released her first album “Paukwa” in 2010 after a stint as a back up singer for Achieng Abura, The Villagers Bad and Wahu.

This year, she has recorded the song “Mama” in four different languages: Swahili, Kisii, Yoruba and French and has been in a duet “Nakuhitaji” with the Swahili-singing Israeli singer Gilad.

Dela offers a whole range of rhythms on stage; from the lively Afro-pop dance song “Mafeelings,” to the dancehall inspired sing-along “Third Party Lover.”

Tickets to the Koroga Festival, which takes place on July 31 at the Arboretum Grounds from 12pm, sold out a week ago so those that bought online tickets in good time will be counting themselves very lucky.