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Johnny Clegg

Jonathan (Johnny) Clegg, born June 7, 1953 in Rochdale near Manchester, (UK), is a popular musician from South Africa, who has recorded and performed with his bands Juluka and Savuka. Sometimes called "The White Zulu", he is an important figure in South African popular music history, with songs that mix Zulu and English lyrics, and African / European / Celtic music styles.

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Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, which was formed 1960 in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, have come to represent the traditional culture of South Africa. They are regarded as South Africa's cultural emissaries at home and around the world. They are a national treasure of the new South Africa in part because they embody the traditions suppressed in the old South Africa.
It has been almost twenty years since Paul Simon made his initial trip to South Africa and met Joseph Shabalala, and the other members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, in a recording studio in Johannesburg.

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Powerage

Powerage was one of the first punk bands to come out of South Africa, with songs against apartheid, the a.w.b., and everything that they saw wrong in the world. Through the time Powerage was together the line up changed several times. This is defenitely one of the bravest punk bands to have come out of the 80s
Powerage is also the name of a Scandinavian band.

Read more about Powerage on Last.fm.

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The Parlotones

Genre: Melodic indie rock
Origin: Johannesburg
Official Band Website: www.parlotones.co.za
My Space site: www.myspace.com/theparlotones
Management Website: www.sovent.co.za Band Members:
Kahn Morbee (vocals, guitar), Glenn Hodgson (bass, piano, backing vocals), Paul Hodgson (guitar) and Neil Pauw (Drums) The Parlotones live act, the basis of any musician’s popularity, embraces the concept of performance and the guys fill the stage. Audiences watching The Parlotones are swept up in a whirlwind of energy and rock orchestrated by front man Kahn Morbee.

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Nate Maingard

"Think the kind of effect a Nathaniel Rateliff and Bon Iver collaboration might have..."
- The Tudor, Aficionado (Jun 14, 2011) "Somewhere between Radiohead and a more intellectual Jack Johnson"
- Mike Smith, LMG Cape Town is the city of cold surf, rugged mountains, raw creativity and thus, not surprisingly, Nate Maingard. A self-taught musician, Nate has been playing guitar for over ten years and singing his whole life, from teenage gigs around the mother city to busking his way through the UK.

Read more about Nate Maingard on Last.fm.

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Estelle Kokot

In 2006, Sony ATV signed three South African musican/composers to a publishing deal – Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masakela and Estelle Kokot. The following year, Estelle became Sony’s first writer to receive a nomination for a prestigious SAMA (South African Musicians’ Award). UK born South African singer/songwriter/pianist, Estelle Kokot, has thrilled audiences in venues ranging from the Jazz Clubs of South Africa to the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall in London, as well as in various European Jazz Festivals.

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader is a South African band whose music could be described as alternative pop, covering a wide-range from acoustic ballads to electronic loop experiments. Their name used to be Harris Tweed, but they were forced to change it when the Harris Tweed Authority in Scotland sent them a lawyers' letter demanding it. Members are singer-songwriter-pianist Cherilyn MacNeil, Darryl Torr (bass, electronics) and Michael Wright (drums, vocals).

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Soweto Gospel Choir

Mixing African gospel with traditional hymns, Jamaican reggae, American pop, and spiritually themed secular songs, the Soweto Gospel Choir are an impressive performing unit. Formed in Soweto, South Africa, in 2002 by choir directors David Mulovhedzi and Beverly Bryer, the group includes 30-some members and the show they produce is a powerful expression of hope and joy full of gorgeous South African vocal harmonies.

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Zola

There are at least 2 artists/bands called Zola:
1. a south african musician; 2. a spanish indie pop sextet from Barcelona. 3 a British math pop group
1.Bonginkosi Dlamini, aka Zola, is a South African poet, actor, and kwaito musician. He also presents Zola 7, a television show named for him, on SABC 1.
Born in the Soweto ghettos of Johannesburg, South Africa, Dlamini spent his formative years in one of the roughest and notorious ghettos around, Zola, hence his name. Unemployment, alcoholism, and single parent families are the norm in Zola.

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