BIGSONG:
Bulelwa Mkutukana, best known by her stage name Zahara, is a South African singer and songwriter born on November 9, 1987.
After signing a record deal with TS Records, Mkutukana’s debut album, Loliwe (2011), went double platinum. Her second album, Phendula (2013), produced three chart-topping singles “Phendula”, “Impilo”, and “Stay”.
Zahara’s third album, Country Girl (2015), was certified triple platinum. Following her departure from TS Records, she signed a record deal with Warner Music.Her fourth album, Mgodi (2017), was her best-selling album and was certified platinum.
Her fifth album, Nqaba Yam (2021), peaked at number 1 on iTunes.
Her accolades include 17 South African Music Awards, three Metro FM Awards, and one Nigeria Entertainment Awards. In 2020, Zahara was on the list of the BBC’s 100 Women. She further appeared as a guest judge on the seventeenth season of Idols South Africa in 2021.
Early life
Zahara was born as ‘Bulelwa Mkutukana’ in the Phumlani Informal Settlement outside of East London in Eastern Cape, South Africa, where she lived with her parents Nokhaya and Mlamli Mkutukana. She is the sixth of seven children. Zahara started singing in her school’s choir when she was six years old, and at the age of nine she was asked to join the senior choir because of her strong voice. Her stage name means “blooming flower”; and as a child, she was known by the nickname “Spinach”.
Career
Her music is classified loosely as “Afrosoul” and she sings in her native language, Xhosa, as well as in English. Her music has been described as a mixture of styles that have been popularized by Tracy Chapman and India Arie.
Zahara started her career busking on the streets of East London. She was spotted by TK Nciza of TS Records, who signed her to his label.
Zahara’s debut album Loliwe was released in 2011. The first issue sold out within 72 hours, and 19 days later, the album reached double platinum status in South Africa by surpassing the 100,000 sales mark.This made her the second musician after Brenda Fassie, who was also a Xhosa native, to reach this figure in such record time. Zahara released her first live DVD which featured X-Factor USA contestant LeRoy Bell. The DVD reached platinum (according to the standards set by the Recording Industry of South Africa) in one day.
On 1 May 2012, at the annual South African Music Awards, Zahara won eight awards, including “Best Female Artist” and “Album of the Year”.
In 2013, Zahara released her second studio album, Phendula. Phendula won three South African Music Awards for Best Selling Album, Best R&B, Soul and Reggae Album and Best Female Artist of the Year. The same year, Nelson Mandela invited her to his home to perform a private bedside concert. She then composed “Nelson Mandela” in his honor and released it as an EP.
2014–2018: Country Girl, Mgodi
In July 2014, Zahara’s younger brother was murdered in East London. According to Zahara, she went through a period of depression after his death, but recovered enough for the 2015 release of Country Girl. In 2015 at the Eastern Cape Music Awards, she won two awards include; Best Female, Best Artists 3.
In early 2017, Zahara signed with Warner Music South Africa. On October 13, 2017, her fourth studio album Mgodi, was released. The album went gold after only six hours.Music Festival, visiting three venues in United States. The tour began in Toronto, Canada, on August 17, 2019, and concluded on August 24, 2019, in Washington DC.
At the 2018 Next Generation Entertainment Award, her album Mgodi won best female act award.
2019–present: Nqaba Yam
Following a four-year hiatus, Zahara announced her fifth studio album on CapeTalk site, and later released the album’s lead single “Nyamezela” on 7 May 2021.[23] The album was set to be released on 9 July 2021. On 30 July 2021, she released a second single “Nqaba Yam”.
After many delays due to COVID-19 lockdown, her album was released in South Africa on 13 August 2021. In December 2021, she teased her first Amapiano single which was shared on micro-blogging platform, Twitter.
Television
In 2021, she made her television debut as guest judge for Idols South Africa season 17 alongside Dineo Ranaka.
