Cape Town 03 (South Africa) - George 05 (South Africa)
“Nelson Mandela made the people in South Africa free and now it's time for us and Nelson to make sure that the world is AIDS free. We're basically saying it loud - we're screaming and saying "We don't want Africa to die". And we don't want our children to have a bleak future. So, we want to do something about it now.”
The work of this revolutionary band, which started out in the late nineties, is hailed as the “sound of the first generation of South Africans unshackled from the spectre of apartheid”. They come from diverse backgrounds – Jahseed was born and bred in Zimbabwe, Stoan is from Mmabatho in the North West Province and Thandiswa (aka Red) is a Xhosa girl with roots in the Eastern Cape.
Starting out as a kwaito group, they continue to expand the boundaries of the genre. Their music is firmly rooted in the rhythms of house music but they incorporate raga, reggae, rap, dancehall and contemporary R&B. Their music also reflects South Africa’s many home-grown genres – the bouncy beats of mbaqanga, gospel and the choral sound of iscathamiya.
In addition to performing at Nelson Mandela’s birthday celebrations, Bongo Maffin also performed at the 46664 concerts in South Africa in 2003 and 2005.
