Sam Tshabalala (South Africa)
- May 10
- 1 min read
Sam Tshabalala is a South African singer, guitarist, and composer whose career began in the late 1970s with the Malopoets, a band that wrote songs in local African languages including Shangaan, Tswana, and Zulu, partly as a way to embed criticism of the apartheid regime in languages that white authorities could not easily understand. During a European tour in 1989, he settled in Paris, where he founded the band Sabeka in 1993. In their first year, the band performed in Paris to welcome Nelson Mandela. He has since performed at WOMAD festivals across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and has taught Gumboots dance at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Featured Song:
“Sizobuya Nayo” (We’ll Bring Her Back) is a Zulu-language song from Tshabalala’s album Meadowlands (2005). The song draws on the tradition of umabo, the celebration surrounding a bride’s arrival into her new family, with the community gathering to welcome her home. “Mshengu,” used in the song to name the family receiving the bride, is a widely recognized nickname for members of the Tshabalala family across South Africa. “Let us go, and show her the way / The distance we need to travel does not matter / No frontiers will stop us / Bring her into the Mshengu family!”
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