Zwai Bala

This article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for music. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (March 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (March 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Zwai Bala (born 15 February 1975) is a South African kwaito and gospel musician.

Education[]

Bala studied at the Drakensberg Boys' Choir School, near Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal, and matriculated at St Stithians College in 1994. He then pursued an online Master's Certificate in Orchestration for Film and Television at Berklee College of Music in Boston.^[1] He came to public attention in 1997 as a member of the kwaito group TKZee.^[2]

Career[]

When he was 11 years old, he entered The Shell Road to Fame talent show and reached the semi-finals. Together with school friends Kabelo Mabalane and Tokollo Tshabalala, he formed kwaito group TKZee. TKZeereleased their singles "Take It Eezy", holiday hit "Phalafala" and their top-selling "Shibobo",^[3] which featured South Africa national football team player Benni McCarthy. Later, Bala began a solo musical career.

Bala is a music director and producer, who has worked on musicals featuring Ali Campbell of UB40,^[4] produced Grace from the two-time Grammy award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir,^[5] and has been the featured soloist at the Classical FM–Lexus Soiree at the Sandton Intercontinental.

He was a celebrity contestant on the first season of the SABC 2 reality competition Strictly Come Dancing in 2006, partnered with professional ballroom dancer Kego Motshabi. The pair finished third.^[6]

Songs[]

Bala's recorded music include:

• Ndize
• Umlilo-Masibase
• All I Do
• Black 'N Proud
• Ndiredi
• Moody's Mood For Love
• Nozamile
• Vuk'uzenzele
• Play That Music
• Kuyasa
• Ikhaya
• Bash'abafana
• Tino Tino
• Folkfanse-My Heritage
• Hand Prints
• Circle of Life
• Solo
• Soccer
• Gux Duo
• Niceland-Guguletu
• Everyone Can Drum
• Noble Peace
• Noyana

Television[]

His television appearances include:^[2]

• All You Need Is Love – Season 2 – Host
• Clash of the Choirs South Africa – Season 1 – Choir Master
• Clash of the Choirs South Africa – Season 3 – Guest Judge
• Popstars – Season 2, 3 and 4 – Judge
• Pump Up The Volume – Season 1 – Judge
• Red Cake – Not the Cooking Show – Season 1 – Houseband leader

Awards[]

In 2002 he received a South African Music Award (SAMA) For his single Lifted^[1] and in 2019 Bala and the TKZee members received a SAMA award for Lifetime Achievement.^[7]

References[]