Swazi Observer

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OVER 10 000 GRACE MAKOTI FESTIVAL

By Ayanda Dlamini and Tanele Sihlongonyane | 2024-04-29

OVER 10 000 fashion and music fanatics attended the third edition of the Makoti Festival on Saturday at Malkerns Country Club.

The number of attendees has increased by 5 000 from the previous edition.

Newlife Entertainment Director Thembinkhosi said this year’s festival was bigger and they were surprised by the resounding response from both local and international attendees. The Newlife Entertainment team pulled out all stops to make this year’s event a success. This was witnessed from the lined-up acts of the day to the set up of the stage.

Compared to the previous editions, this year more stalls joined the party.

These were corporate, food and mostly small- medium enterprises (SMEs).

There were traditional meals prepared on the day and patrons got to experience Eswatini cuisine.

Some of the companies that participated in the event were encouraged brought their staff who belong to the lutsango regiment and they came in tradition regalia. This year’s festival saw a number of international music lovers attending the festival. People came from different countries such as Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa.

They were seen mostly at the VIP lounge enjoying the music and the ambience which was described as friendly. These were the countries where the team behind the festival, Newlife Entertainment, hosted activations prior to the event.

The international tourists were also seen in different traditional attire.

With an enticing lineup of local and international acts, live performances and a breathtaking display of stage proximate pyrotechnics, the festival created an atmosphere of pure euphoria.

Directing the proceedings of the day was Siphesihle Nkwanyana and Mzwakhe ‘Tjovitjo’ Khumalo and they kept the crowd entertained.

Attendees especially women ensured to dress to the nines as they came in colorful and fashionable makoti inspired outfits. Despite the weather conditions not being favourable, fashion lovers showed up and made the event colourful with the different outfits they were clad in.

The gloomy weather did not stop fun lovers from enjoying the live performances as they were seen dancing and singing along to each of the sets performed by the lined up acts.

Lodanda Nemalangeni took to the stage at exactly 3pm and they displayed spectacular traditional dance moves.

They were showing bomakoti how the Siswati dance is done and they were a marvel to watch.

DJ Tseko, all the way from Lesotho, made sure to leave a piece of his soul with the remarkable tunes he was playing. Revellers could be seen dancing and singing along to his well curated playlist.

Masibuyele KuJehova took attendees back to church with the songs they sang.

The sensational group performed their well-known songs and kept the crowd entertained for 30 minutes.

Thobile Makhoyane took to stage at around 6pm and gave a beautiful performance. Bholoja also rendered beautiful songs.

Tchakaze gave an energetic performance as she displayed spectacular dance moves and further mesmerised performers with her wonderful tone.

The highlight of her performance was the pyrotechnics, which made the whole performance magical.

NTOKOZO MBAMBO TAKES THEM TO CHURCH

SOUTH African most celebrated gospel artist Ntokozo Mbambo took fun lovers to church with her praise and worship hit song.

Mbambo took to the stage at 9pm after Bholoja’s thrilling performance. From the moment it was announced that she was about to mount the stage, revellers, rushed closer to the main stage aiming for the front row.

Her performance was both praise and worship.

She literally brought fire to the stage when she was worshiping. A trendsetter from the start, Mbambo embraced a contemporary style when it wasn’t popular. Breaking stereotypes, she hosted performances at venues like Mosaiek Teatro Emperor’s Palace, and the Lyric Theatre, where gospel events were not common.

“My brand is about gospel music excellence. I want to be remembered for my music, but I also just want to be a good wife to my husband and mother to my children.

It’s of no use to be known out there and not serve the very people closest to me on a daily basis,” she said in an interview after her performance.

As usual, Mbambo came with her husband Ncubeko Mbatha, who held it down with the instruments. Mbatha was billed to perform at Mother of All Gospel Shows after his wife’s outstanding performance at the festival.

BoMakoti love Mthandeni ‘Mr Paris’

SOUTH African maskandi hit maker Mthandeni also known as ‘Mr Paris’ received nothing but love from Eswatini women to be precise.

Bomakoti were the centre of attention as they were screaming from the moment they saw Mthandeni preparing to take to the stage with his dancers. Some of them, mostly those who were by the stage entrance, rushed to Mathandeni’s car pleading for selfies and videos.

Mthandeni was the last performer on stage. He gave his fans something to munch on with his debut performance in country.

It would have not been Mathandeni’s performance without a rendition of ‘Paris’.

From the early days of the song being released it entered the history books in the Maskandi scene by achieving over 200 000 views on YouTube within two days. This was a first in the maskandi genre. This was only the beginning of the success of the song by Mthandeni.

The song’s views soared and made further history in the maskandi scene by achieving one million views on YouTube within 12 days. The last time a maskandi song had noticeable impact was with the song ‘Ngafa’ by the legendary duo Shwi Nomtekhala. The song paved the way for many and made maskandi a genre to be reckoned with. It now seems like history is repeating itself.

He performed this hit song four times at the festival as his fans were asking for more. Another highlight of the day was Nomcebo Zikode’s ‘Jerusalema’s performance.

She proved to her fans why she won a Grammy award for ‘Jerusalem’.

She dance-up a storm with her dancers. She gave a thrilling performance and was surprised to learn that some of her songs were known by the crowd. She ended her performance with a perfect rendition of ‘Jerusalema.’

Artists might not get a cheque from winning a Grammy award, but the recognition that comes with being a Grammy award-winning muso is big.

Since winning the Grammy earlier this year, Zikode’s career has been on the up. She became the second South African woman to win the prestigious award after Miriam Makeba.

When coronavirus placed the world in lockdown, a gospel-influenced anthem with Zulu lyrics brought people together through social media, lifting spirits and instantly becoming a global phenomenon.

Today, ‘Jerusalema’ has clocked more than 230 million YouTube views in less than a year and lured an army of people into mimicking its dance moves.

The viral ‘Jerusalema dance challenge’ saw thousands across the world posting clips of themselves copying the video choreography.

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