Bongo Maffin
Encyclopedia
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n kwaito
Kwaito
Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music featuring the use of African sounds and samples. Typically at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music, Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples,...
music group. The group became famous for its hit albums such as Thath'isigubhu. Its lead singer, Thandiswa Mazwai
Thandiswa Mazwai
Thandiswa Mazwai is a multi-award winning South African musician, and is also the lead vocalist and songwriter of Bongo Maffin.-Early life:...
, has since gone solo, releasing two albums, Zabalaza
Zabalaza (album)
Zabalaza is the first solo release from the South African kwaito performer, Thandiswa Mazwai. Before this album, Thandiswa was most famously known as the lead singer for the kwaito group Bongo Maffin...
and Ibokwe.
Bongo Maffin formed in 1996, starting as a project of South African deejay
Deejay
A deejay is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim .Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors...
Oscar. Appleseed, one of the band members, was born and raised in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, and brings a distinct reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
flavor to the group's music. Another member, Stoan, began his musical career as a singer for the kwaito band Thebe, while Thandiswa (or Red as she if often called), joined in 1997 after working with them as a backup singer and studio musician. The group's expansive and spiritual take on the dance-oriented genre has been compared to the Fugees' broadening of American hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
. The comparison is reinforced by singer Thandiswa's soulful crooning, which is reminiscent of the Fugees' Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
. Their common passion for music has had a synergistic effect on their collective creativity. The fourth member of the group, Speedy, has since left the group and embarked on a solo career.
The group's music is rooted in the rhythms of house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, but they incorporate reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
, rap
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and contemporary R&B. The group, however, also gives props to their homeland, adding sounds from South Africa's many homegrown genres: the bouncy beats of mbaqanga
Mbaqanga
Mbaqanga is a style of South African music with rural Zulu roots that continues to influence musicians worldwide today. The style originated in the early 1960s.-History:...
, gospel and the choral sound of iscathamiya made famous by Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland and have won multiple awards, including three Grammy Awards...
. Bongo Maffin is an excellent example of the multiculturalism of kwaito, incorporating five languages into their music (Xhosa, Tswana, Sotho, Shona and English). Furthermore, by incorporating so many different styles of music and by extending its reach around the world - Bongo Maffin "has ... tour[ed] extensively internationally", including performances in North America, Europe, and the Indian Ocean islands as well as across Africa - the group represents kwaito's place as the music of the post-apartheid period. Through kwaito, South Africa and its culture are coming onto the world stage, and groups like Bongo Maffin are a big part of this movement.
Bongolution is the group's first international release on Sony Music International/Lightyear Entertainment, and their fourth album, which finds them continuing to expand the boundaries of kwaito. "Twasa" talks of going through a right of passage while moving to a funky house beat. "The Way (Kungakhona)" embraces both township jive and contemporary electronic rhythms. "Will U be There" thrusts Thandwisa among the world's best R&B crooners. With its unique sound and style, Bongo Maffin has already become the world ambassadors of kwaito. They have been tapped for shows by international stars such as Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie is an English rock band whose members include Skin , Cass , Ace and Mark Richardson .Skunk Anansie formed in March 1994, disbanded in 2001 and reformed in 2009...
and Boys to Men. They also performed at Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
's birthday celebration. When the Central Park Summerstage Festival
Summerstage
SummerStage is an annual, free performing arts summer festival founded in 1986 which takes place at Rumsey Playfield in New York City's Central Park and, since 2010, in parks throughout the five boroughs of New York. In 1994, SummerStage was transferred to the City Parks Foundation, where it has...
series wanted to premiere kwaito music in New York City, the producers chose Bongo Maffin. At Summerstage, they opened for Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx are a British electronic dance music duo from London, England consisting of Felix Buxton born 1971 and Simon Ratcliffe born 1 December 1969. They first rose to popularity in the late 1990s...
. Bongo Maffin has also opened for Yellowman
Yellowman
Yellowman is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, widely known as King Yellowman...
at Sounds of Brazil (SOBs) in New York. This is notable because the influence of Jamaican deejays such as Yellowman is seen in kwaito.
Kora Awards
The Kora Awards are music awards given annually for musical achievement in sub-Saharan Africa. Founded in 1994 by Ernest Adjovi, they are comparable to the American Grammy Awards in intent...
for Best African Artist. "Everything that Bongo Maffin does is about consciousness," says Appleseed. "Bongo's trying to be a musical representation of the ideas of the African Renaissance." And that movement has truly caught fire: Bongolution is already platinum in South Africa, a mere six month's after its release.
They have since released their new album New Construction....ed. Gilbert Motsaathebe
An example of Bongo Maffin's social consciousness is their involvement in HIV/AIDS activism. In 2003, Bongo Maffin shared the stage at Cape Town's Green Point Stadium with international and local South African artists such as Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
, Queen, Anastacia
Anastacia
Anastacia is an American singer-songwriter. Anastacia has been highly successful in Europe, Asia, South Africa and South America, but has had only minor success in her native United States...
, Johnny Clegg, and Angelique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, commonly known as Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy Award–winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's premier diva". The BBC has...
at the 46664: Give One Minute of Your Life to AIDS Concert. They have also shown their support for the peace movement, performing at the Coliseum in Rome for the International Day of Peace concert in 2003.
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| 1999
| The Concerto
| South African Music Awards: Best African Pop Album
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|-
| 2001
| Bongolution
| Kora Africa Music Awards: Best African Group
|
|-
| 2002
| Bongolution
| Metro FM Awards: Best African Pop
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|-
| 2002
| Bongolution
| Metro FM Awards: Best Duo/Group
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|-
| 2002
| Bongolution
| South African Music Award: Best Duo/Group
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|-
| 2006
| New Construction
| South African Music Award: Best Duo/Group
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|-
| 2006
| New Construction
| Kora Africa Music Awards: Best African Group
| }
|-
| 2006
| New Construction
| BBC World Music Awards: Best African Album
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|}