Maureen is an Afro Jazz singer and songwriter with 35 years in the music industry. Maureen started her music career as a teenager, and she has a collection of five albums (Nandayeya 2000, Coming Home 2002, Evolution 2004, Tetwe 2005, Soul Masala 2007). She is backed by ‘Ashilile Band’ comprising six instrumentalists. The band is inspired by tradition and plays a fusion of traditional Zambian and western music. The band plays all genres of music but their strong suit is the Zambian field.

Maureen is a motivational speaker, and she has addressed in her music as well as at conferences issues on malaria, HIV, child abuse, domestic violence, morality, religion, and dealing with the loss of a loved one.
Maureen has collaborated and shared stages with various artists such as the Malmo Symphony of Sweden, Oliver Mtukudzi, Fra Fra of Netherlands, Magic System, Baba Maal of Senegal, Black Voices of the UK, Leona Lewis, Jonathan Butler, and Seal. Maureen has also led a female Acapella group called Amashiwi to Japan.

Maureen has won multi-Ngoma awards, two Azami awards and Starmaker accolade. She was nominated in the 2006 South Africa Kora Award for Best Female Artist. On March 21, 2014 Maureen was awarded the Born ‘n’ Bred Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also the Plan International Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Zambia Adjudicators Panel (ZAP). On September 18, 2015 she was awarded Africa’s Most Influential Women Awards for Arts in Zambia and the SADC region.

A singer and songwriter, songbird Tribute ‘Birdie’ Mboweni was born and raised in Mkhuhlu, Mpumalanga. Having serenaded audiences in Qatar and Dubai playing with a jazz band featuring one of South African’s great jazz pianists, Sylvester Mazinyane, performing at COP17 national awareness events, as well as performing at the Earth Fest in Zambia, the petite singer is working diligently to carve a path that ensures that she too, has a place in the music industry.

Locally, she has showcased at some of the hottest stages such as the Victory Theatre, Silverstar Casino, Niki’s Oasis in Newtown, Winnie’s Jazz Club in Sandton, as well as the Rendezvous stage at the South African State Theatre as part of the Jazz and African Music Nights. After successfully delivering a stellar performance at the South African State Theatre on April 25, Tribute went on to dazzle music lovers in a 2-hour long showcase presented by Yfm 99.2’s Live N ReYired series on the 12th of May, which she followed up with a performance at Johannesburg’s number one live music showcase platform, Up & Coming on the 28th of May. She went on to give 5 stellar performances at the 2014 Grahamstown National Arts Festival, receiving a great review for her soulful offering of her own music and music that celebrates South African legends. She recently gave another stellar performance, opening for The Soil on the last leg of their nation-wide Reflections Tour at the Lyric Theater.

Tribute has made strides having come first place at the Born To Be Famous Academy’s Born To Sing Showcase, judged by lead talent scout and Native Rhythms Productions Founder Sipho Sithole and Mandisa Bardill-Kwebulana, Executive Producer at Imbumba Stage Productions. She has also participated in a couple of historical musical productions having featured in one of the two Radio 2000 Nelson Mandela celebratory songs, All About Love, as well as the International Organisation of Migrations’ I Am a Migrant Too campaign song and video.

A Boundless Southern Africa Ambassador, off the stage she is an Environment and Conservation Ambassador, working committedly and tirelessly making a difference across the country through Projekt 23 – The Green Movement, a community and schools-based environmental education, treeplanting and social upliftment non-profit organisation she co-founded in March 2009.

When it comes to South Africa, the Jack Mantis Band still has it’s place as one of the country’s top jam bands. When they do find themselves here, they continue to perform on large stages such as Rocking the Daisies, Splashy Fenn, Oppikoppi, Kirstenbosch Gardens and the Paul Cluver Amphitheatre. The past two years has seen them share stages with the likes of Prime Circle, Kahn Morbee (The Parlotones), Ard Matthews, Arno Carstens, Albert Frost and – most recently – Dan Patlansky.

With a history steeped in music and a lifetime spent gaining insight and wisdom the world over, Mantis brings something truly generous to his performances. A sense of common humanity and togetherness. The brotherhood between band members and the sincere heart expressed through their music is tangible. It is undeniable that their vision is to create a conscious shift through their music and to hold a space for meaningful shared experiences.

Sukulani Mwachumu AKA Janta Jacxy on the beat who is also the producer focuses in uplifting Malawian urban music.

Founded in 2006 with an aim of helping upcoming artists, SU Records derives from Sungununu, a crew that works with Janta in music production.

In the meantime, a few other studios including the renowned SU Records encompass various kinds of music genres. But as the age of specialization dawned, many studios limited their scope. SU Records, on the other hand, still provides music in dancehall, Hip-Hop, R&B and any type of music genre.

The founder of the studio, Janta is an artist who has a positive attitude towards the talent that young people have. Janta was born in October 1989.

Pretoria, South Africa

Dr. Mtukudzi grew up in Highfield, a poor neighborhood in Salisbury (modern-day Harare) in Southern Rhodesia, as the eldest of seven siblings[1]. While both his parents sang in a choir, they were initially not supportive of his continued interest in music, consequently breaking his first homemade guitar.[2]

He began performing in 1977 when he joined the Wagon Wheels, a band that also featured Thomas Mapfumo and fellow legendary guitarist James Chimombe. They were given the rare opportunity by Paul Tangi Mhova Mkondo, an African nationalist and music promoter, who provided money and resources to the group. With the support of Mutanga, the prayers and blessings of Amai Mutanga, he allowed them to perform at Mutanga Restaurant & Night Club (Pungwe) which, at the time, was the first and only African licensed (obtained by Mkondo) night club available for blacks under Rhodesia’s policy of segregation. Their single Dzandimomotera went gold and Tuku’s first album followed, which was also a major success. Mtukudzi is also a contributor to Mahube, Southern Africa’s “supergroup”.[3]

With his husky voice, Mtukudzi has become the most recognised voice to emerge from Zimbabwe and onto the international scene and he has earned a devoted following across Africa and beyond. A member of Zimbabwe’s KoreKore group, with Nzou Samanyanga as his totem, he sings in the nation’s dominant Shona language along with Ndebele and English. He also incorporates elements of different musical traditions, giving his music a distinctive style, known to fans as Tuku Music.

On 23 January 2019, Mtukudzi died at the age of 66, just a few months after our collaboration. May his soul rest in peace, as his legacy lives on.