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It's the Valentine's weekend and I know SOME of you guys are super excited and some of you are already celebrating! So, what better way to celebrate Valentine's day than with awesome music, and because I love you guys so much, I made sure I plug you with some jams for the heartfelt day.  I spoke to a few local artists in the Kingdom of Eswatini who have dished out some music for us to listen to this Valentine's day, and boy oh boy! There is just so much talent here. I must say, these artists are remarkable!  Dj Lady Zee has blessed us with an Amapiano single, "Valentine". She says the inspiration behind it was to get to work on producing music and getting new talent while also spreading love through music given that it’s a tough time.  "Since it’s my birthday on Valentine’s Day and unfortunately I can't host a show to celebrate it, this is me celebrating my birthday with my fans through this single". The song is really beautiful and the productio...

Supa CDQ, Formally Known As Linda Dlamini   Is One of Eswatini's Finest Hip Hop Djs. He Has Played Along The Likes Of AKA, Simmy, Black Motion, Reason, Busiswa, Just To Name A Few. He Was Born And Raised In Mbabane, Eswatini, Where He Did His Primary Education At St Francis Primary School, His High School Education At St Marks High School And Finished Off At Swazi National School. He Then Furthered And Did His Tertiary At Emergency Medical Rescue College.  Supa Says Since He Was Young, He Has Always Been Surrounded By Music Lovers. The First One Being His Father Who Loved Playing music In The House, More Especially On Weekends. From Jazz To Soul and RnB. His Uncle, Bonez Who Is A Radio Dj On EBIS, Used To Give Linda Access To His Computer That Had A Wide Range Of Music Genres. That’s Also Where He Used Make His First Mixes After He Learnt Some Deejaying Basics From His Brother, Yugo.  The Well Renowned Dj Says He Fell In Love With Music Because Music Makes Everything...

I t's no debate that the past seven and half months have been belligerent in so many different aspects. As if the Eswatini Arts and Entertainment industry wasn't already suffering enough, the COVID-19 pandemic took over and turned lives upside-down. And when we thought things were getting better, we just took two steps forward and five steps back. At this point, we're not sure of our fate.  It's been a blow, especially for the arts and entertainment industry in the Kingdom. Artists have been screaming but its been difficult to get the government to hear our wail. Some artists have even opted to venture into other paths to get some remuneration. Regardless of the whole situation, some artists have been creating, making music and becoming more powerful, perfecting their craft.  I had an interesting chat with a few artists who are working with  Claiming Ground Records , which is a record label in the Kingdom, founded by Mozaik the producer. Music is their culture and all w...

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...