Thandiswa Mazwai is born in 1976 in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape, and raised in Soweto by Belede and Thami Mazwai, journalists and anti-apartheid activists — a childhood she has described as thick with books and political argument. She starts out in 1996 as lead vocalist and songwriter of Bongo Maffin, recording six albums with the kwaito pioneers, and her own music folds kwaito, jazz and mbaqanga into a commanding, politically alert Afro-soul. Zabalaza (2004), her solo debut, goes double platinum and wins a KORA Award and four SAMAs; Ibokwe (2009) and the songbook album Belede (2016) deepen the catalogue. Sankofa (2024), recorded across Johannesburg, Dakar and New York with producers including Meshell Ndegeocello and Nduduzo Makhathini, brings an NPR Tiny Desk appearance and four 2025 SAMAs, Female Artist of the Year among them — the fourth solo album in a career now in its fourth decade.
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Thandiswa Mazwai’s Sankofa Heritage Festival marked 30 years in music and a 50th birthday milestone, but the real story is how King Tha has made preservation itself feel rebellious.
Thandiswa Mazwai leads a tribute to Hugh Masekela at the 27th Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, which runs across four stages at the Sandton Convention Centre on 25 and 26 September 2026. The organisers have not yet published which of the two nights she performs; gates for both nights are listed at 18:30 on Ticketmaster.
