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Nicholas Sibusiso Dlamini , commonly known as Slotta is a Swazi award winning artist. He is a vocalist, composer, producer, photogragher, deejay and songwriter. He really is a man with many hats. This year alone, he has won two major international music competitions, which includes a Brazilian Remix competition under Sure Player Recordings and having the remixes released officially and the Chymamusique remix competition and having the remixes released as well. He was part of the headliners on the 2nd House Music Festival in Eswatini, he played on the first ever MTN Bushfire festival digital stage, just to name a few of his achievements this year.   Slotta started his musical journey as a vocalist, which he still is, from way back in 2008, he used to hang around Subjamz studios and watch the master, in which Subjamz ended up imparting his knowledge to Slotta. In 2011, when he was doing his second year, he bought a laptop and installed fruityloop and that's when he started maki...

Mandisa Mamba is a young Swati singer, songwriter and model who has given us amazing songs including, ''Love Fiend", "Party" and "Dont Let Me Go" to name a few. She recently perfomed at the MTN Bushfire Digital Festival and she was also part of the "Asibemunye" music video by a number of Eswatini artists during this pandemic. Mandisa was born in Mbabane, then moved to Durban a few years later with her mom. They lived there for a little while as her mom was South African. Mandisa came back to Eswatini after her mom unfortunately passed on and she lived with her dad and siblings. She has four siblings; two beautiful sisters and two handsome brothers. She grew up in Manzini, where she also did her primary education at Sydney Williams Primary School. The first three years of her high school education were at Mbuluzi High School, she then went on to do her grade 11 at WEM and grade 12 at metropolitan college in South Africa. S he studied media an...

      Blessing Masuku, commonly known as Dj Bloss is a Dj in the Kingdom of Eswatini from Mpolonjeni, Mbabane who comes from a family of four, him being the first born, followed by three younger brothers. He did his primary education at Mqolo Primary School then completed his high school education at Ka-Boyce High School.  He is one goal driven, respectful and God-fearing young man and is  currently studying Business Information at Limkokwing University.           As a Dj, Bloss says he was exposed to music growing up and he was a keyboard player at his church at Mpolonjeni. He also had uncles who listened to music all the time, thus exposing him to more music. He loved music at a very young age, and the people around him influenced that because they would play all kinds of music all the time. Bloss says he fell in love with deejaying back when he was in High school and he had always dreamed of being on st...

The lock down has had us sitting at the edges of our seats, waiting to hear good news, progress, change, and of course we all cannot wait for the day when they will announce that the entertainment industry is open again and we can host and attend the events we've been planning to. Artists have though, been entertaining us throughout this pandemic and in the next few weeks I will be talking to a few of my friends and some of your favorite Djs in the Kingdom on what they have been getting up to and anything new that they are working on. With that being said, this week I'm starting with two well renowned duos, Drum Rhythm and 2.0 who have started a podcast, weAFRO , t hat mainly focuses on the genre called Afro House music. Afro House Music is an African music mixed with a house beat. Afro house is a sub-genre of house music, with its roots predominantly in South Africa, to be precise. I had a chat with Kwakhe Dino Langwenya, Drum Rhythm Dj and weAFRO representati...

Mlamuli Mkhonta , commonly known as Smash of Mysterious Photography is a young liSwati man who is passion driven, born and raised in the streets of Corporation, Mbabane. He attended his primary education at Ka Boyce Primary School, his secondary education at John Wesley, before going to Ka Boyce High School where he completed. Smash was doing his degree in Architecture at The University of Limkokwing when he dropped out on his second year to pursue photography.  He likes to think of himself to be an ambitious young man who thrives on challenges and always looks for opportunities to do better and achieve greatness. Smash is the head photographer of Mega Sound Events, the ambassador of Skyworld Travel Tours and he works with the likes of Her Royal Highness Princess Sikhanyiso.  Smash talks to me about him and photography and he starts the conversation by saying he believes that a photograph is a none motion, still piece of art that freezes time, emotio...

Lady Zee, real name is Zethu Valentine is a Swati female deejay that got into the game when she was only 19 years old. She was b orn in Mbabane, and stayed in Mobeni, Matsapha for 2 years, after which her family moved to eZulwini, eBuka. She did her studies at Lechwe Light then finished off at Saim Christian High School. She specializes in house, deep house, commercial and the new school amapiano music. Lady Zee h as played in some big events including, The MTN Bushfire Festival 2019, Amapiano and Deep House Session 2 in Mozambique along side Vigro Deep and Dj Bucks. She was made an official deejay for the African Women Designers Week 2019. She has also played in a number of hot spots in Eswatini, including  Solanis, Chill n Grill, Tums Water World, Riders Ranch, and Emfuleni Lifestyle. Lady Zee plays in weddings ,corporate parties and private parties. She has s hared a stage with Dj Tira, Black Motion, Dladla Mshunqisi, Vigro Deep, Naakmusiq, Kabza De Small, Bi...

Phinda Dlamini , commonly known as Master P the DJ is a Swati multi award winning Hip Hop and RnB deejay who was recently in the top 10 of sexy men in the Kingdom. He was born and raised in Manzini but stayed in Simunye for 5 years. He did his lower primary grades at Lusoti Primary School before going to Hillside primary in which he then attended his high school at Hillside High School. He describes a rt is an act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations, where we can express ourselves in ways that words cannot.  Phinda says he has always loved music. He would occasionally deejay in school concerts in high school and then became a professional DJ in 2008. He was introduced to the game by Djs Mdue and Karly B through Sdee of Sdeez supermix. He adds that m usic is that one thing that can talk to you in whatever situation you are in "For me there's a song for every mood, could I be sad, happy or angry, music is just beautiful ❤". Covid-19 Phinda...

Bellinda Bella Chester  (20) is a Swati model, music video vixen and vocalist, born April 25 in Piggs Peak then later moved to the capital, Mbabane where she completed her high school education at St Marks High School. She is currently doing her first year at Limkokwing University, pursuing Public Relations. Bellinda is a lover of art and describes art as  a unique way for a person to express themselves as she sees it as one of the few ways to completely be yourself. Bellinda enlightens me on that before she got into anything else media related,   she  started off with just a passion for rap but settled for just singing. So she would just spend a lot of her leisure time at the studio, observing, making friends and jumping in the booth whenever she was given the chance. She really liked it.  She says she is that girl who can do whatever she puts her mind to. So she started modeling,   worked with local brands and did ramp modeling. But th...

Dr. Shakes , real name Bonginkosi Dlamini, is a Swazi born stand up comedian, event host, brand ambassador and an advocate of the growth of the artist industry in the Kingdom of Eswatini. He was raised in the Mbabane suburbs and completed his high school education at the esteemed Ka-Boyce High School. He kicked off his comedy career in humble fashion as he would perform in both bars and churches serving jokes and humor to these diverse needs, something that would enhance his versatility and multi-functionality in his career. Dr. Shakes’ comedic work shot into prominence in 2015 when he competed in a LOL comedy competition. This elevated him above the surface to get recognized for other comedy events such as the Eswatini Comedy Festival and the Heavyweights International Comedy Festival, which occurred in Botswana. In 2017, Dr. Shakes broke new ground as he hosted his now infamous, goose bump and suspense intrigued show called “Shots Fired” and like a mini devil, history...

Msimisi Sithole is a Swati musician who was one of the 11 winners of the Red Bull "Lift As You Rise" Project in South Africa last year and got to work with some of the most well renowned musicians in the industry including Nasty C and Tellaman. He recently released a track with one of Eswatini’s amazing artists, Sands, titled Zumbu and he just graduated from the University of Botswana with a degree in Industrial Engineering. I know…he’s got brains too. He is the second born of six incredible children. All of whom really have strong and diverse personalities. They were all raised in Big Bend, where they spent a significant portion of their lives until they moved to Mbabane. He says he started singing in Primary school. His sister used to be in the school choir but he was too young to join. So after her rehearsals she would come home and teach him what they learnt, a process he thoroughly enjoyed. By the time he was old enough to join the choir, he was excit...

Nsika Mazibuko (24), also known as Llucid is a young Swati musician from Hlathikhulu, born and bred. He is the last born in his family, with three other siblings and he attended Salem High School before going to The University of Eswatini,Mbabane campus.  Nsika has recently won the first season of The Spotlight by MTN Eswatini, in which he walked away with a brand new car,a record deal,MTN data for a year and an Eswatini MTN brand ambassor contract to name a few.  Nsika and I had a little fun chat about his life in music and winning The Spotlight by MTN Eswatini. He first says that music really came about when his brother went to varsity and his brother and a few friends of his formed a music stable called Pulsic Rhythms, in which Nsika released two of his first singles with, then became independent after that.  He says that he fell in love with music because of the power and the command  of music. "Music is life". He said. It has so much...