After all the music waves he’s made over the years, winning a Grammy award was the next big thing.
Intentional as he was in scooping the prestigious award, the renowned music producer acknowledged that 20 years of his music career had finally culminated to that victory.
Zakes Bantwini, real name Zakhele Madida, previously told Drum that after the Grammy win and last project with Universal music, that 2023 would be his last chapter in the game.
“When I release this album, I will be done. My relationship with Universal will be over and I will be a free agent, I will be a free man," he said.
“It’s over for me, I think I have done everything that I ever wanted to do in the music industry. I have a Grammy, what more do I want?”
After the release of the much-anticipated album, The Star is Reborn, on 8 December 2023, gears changed.
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The idiom ‘a wise man always changes his mind’, rings true for Zakhele.
Catching up with Drum, the 43-year-old music guru says working on his last album was therapeutic and he realised that there’s still a lot he still wants share with the world.
“The Star is Reborn was a very therapeutic album for me to work on. It was my first release since I won my Grammy alongside Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman, so it was a very meaningful project to me. It was also an album that allowed me to share my experiences with the world. I feel like the album, and I still have a lot to share with the world musically.”
With more work still on the horizon for him, he adds that he’s mostly excited about collaborations with young artists, experienced artists and just anyone who has positive energy to put out into the world.
On Freedom Day, the KwaMashu-born musician will be hosting a Joburg festival named Sikelela after the Abantu Cape Town festival that pulled scores of music fans at the DHL stadium.
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“We’re working on a few more exciting surprises throughout the rest of the year, Sikelela is just the beginning. The response to this festival has been so overwhelming from the artists on the line-up, the fans and all our friends and family who have been supporting me through this journey. It’s going to be a very historic day.”
The line-up boasts the likes of the Scorpion Kings, Mi Casa, Kelvin Momo, Young Stunna, Karyendasoul and Sun El Musician among others. The festival will take place at the befitting Constitutional Hill where he promises “great music, great vibes, good food and a whole lot of patriotism”.
“Sikelela is all about freedom. We’re celebrating 30 years of freedom this year and we felt it was appropriate for us to create a space in which all South Africans could come together and celebrate freedom through music.”
In everything he does, preaches and embodies, music remains at the core of it all. If anything, he admits that music has saved him spiritually, mentally and physically, countless times.
“Everything can be traced back to the music. I love music and my intention is always to celebrate through music. Music is everything to me. There’s no Zakes Bantwini without music. Music is what I was brought onto this earth for.”
