Artist Spotlight: Mandoza
Mandoza has placed himself in a prime position to go down with the greats!
Mduduzi Tshabalala born in 1978 in Soweto, South Africa, who also goes by the stage name Mandoza, has been turning heads for years now. As he grew up, he lived a life sheltered under the shadows of not only his loving mother but his grandparents and his two sisters. This proved to be not enough to keep him out of trouble when he was arrested and charged with car theft thus bringing his life to a screeching hault and was sentenced to one and a half years in jail.
After starting a group known as Chiskop, they sold their first debut album, Akusheshi, then followed by Relax. This was the groups first record deal after bout eight years following its conception. Even though the group received great success and was even sometime considered as one of the pioneers of Kwaito music, Madoza was working on his solo career.
In 1999 he released his top-selling album titled 9II5 Zola South, and received a African Music Awards Best newcomer nomination. In 2000 he released Nkalakatha which won Best Kwaito Album of the Year and also won the Song of the Year in 2001. He tends to shift his mindset and song messages in a more positive direction and was said to possibly not originally even like the Kwaito style for a lack of message and meaning in their genre. Throughout his career he even was able to play a major supporting role in a major South African film. The feature titled Number 10 was Rugby Union full length feature film and placed his acting skills on the map.
He has produced 14 solo albums and has the ability to reach cultures in over 4 different languages. it is no doubt that Mandoza has placed himself as a "giant among many" and has allowed himself to be in the conversation as one of the top Kwaito performers of our time.