From SA to the world: Six artists who are flying the country's flag high

17 July 2019 - 12:11 By Cebelihle Bhengu
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Busiswa, above, and Moonchild Sanelly have landed a gig with Beyonce.
Busiswa, above, and Moonchild Sanelly have landed a gig with Beyonce.
Image: Instagram/ Busiswa

South Africans are beaming with pride following the announcement of a collaboration between Beyoncé and two of the country's finest musicians, Moonchild Sanelly and Busiswa.

The two feature on the song My Power from the soundtrack for the remake of the animated film The Lion King. 

The Lion King squad

Busiswa and Moonchild feature alongside Nigeria's Yemi Alade and US rapper Tierra Whack. Beyoncé told Entertainment Tonight that it was important to feature Africa's best talent on the album. 

"I wanted to make sure we found the best talent from Africa and not just, you know, use some of the sounds and give my interpretation of it."

Veteran SA actor John Kani stars in the film, which is due for release on Friday.

These stars are among many others who are expanding their local audience to a global one.

Here are three others:

Thuso Mbedu

Mbedu announced three months ago that she had been cast as a lead character, Cora, in the Benny Jenkins adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Underground Rail Road.

Babes Wodumo

Durban-born gqom queen Babes Wodumo's hit, Wololo, featured in the movie Black Panther. She also featured alongside musician Zacari on a song titled Redemption. Several other SA artists featured on the film's album, which was produced by US rapper Kendrick Lamar. 

DJ Shimza

The DJ became the third in SA to score a residency at a club in Ibiza, Spain, following in the footsteps of Culoe De Song and DJ Black Coffee. At the time, Shimza said party-goers on the island were welcoming and warming up to SA flavour. He said the international exposure would help propel his career to even greater heights.

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