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By Bonginkosi Tiwane

Lifestyle Journalist


Lady Du and Slikour win Loerie award for bringing awareness on hearing loss

The Loeries Creative Week hosted creatives in Cape Town this week with night one of the awards ceremony taking place on Thursday night.


Amapiano artist Lady Du and Skwatta Kamp member Siya ‘Slikour’ Metane bagged a Loerie award on Thursday night. The stars were recognised for participating – through a TikTok challenge – in a Vodacom and HearZA #HearingChallenge, which aims to raise awareness on hearing loss in children.

“Lady Du asked me to do a song pre-Covid before Amapiano was even a thing. I told her I retired, so when we did this she made sure I rap on a piano joint. So yeah, we have a fire song coming,” averred Slikour on Instagram, after the win.

Their accolade is in the Digital Crafts section of the Music and Sound Design category of the Loerie Awards.

“The making of the Loerie-winning and New Generation Mobile Market award-winning joint [beat]. Lady Du your government is on Loerie screens mama. Shoutout to the fam VMLY&R South Africa for inviting us to this ride. [Shoutout to] The boys Dj Stresser and Given Kanu on production and the whole team SOL Distro.”

The Citizen reached out to both Slikour and Lady Du for comment, but they had not responded at the time of publishing.

Ampiano for a good cause

The campaign was a collaboration between Vodacom and HearZA – an app that was developed in South Africa to test one’s hearing.

Real name Duduzile Ngwenya, Lady Du together with Slikour, DJ Stresser and Given Kanu recreated a hearing test on TikTok.

They replicated methods used in a speech-in-noise test. The music functioned as the noise, while Lady Du’s vocal ad-libs acted as the speech input.

@ladydu_sa Wawa uyezwa na? Prove it by taking the #hearingChallenge sponsored by @Vodacom #furthertogether I challenge YOU and @Khanyisa_Jaceni @reignracks @Aymos @real_bassie @DjFlairSA @OfficialFakeLove @Makhadzi Music @Uncle.Waffffles @DjZanD @Cheez_Beezy @oskidoibelieve @felo le tee @LawdPorry @PianoKingKabza @DBNGOGO @Kamogelo Mphela 🎭 ♬ original sound – Lady Du

Using the hashtag #HearingChallenge, the campaign’s aim was to get youth to test their hearing using the national hearing test app, HearZA.

“We are proud to be part of this initiative. Our goal and purpose has always been to connect people for a better future. It’s amazing when we can use technology to ensure everyone has access to good health and wellbeing, and do so in such an engaging and fun way,” said Vodacom Social Media Portfolio Manager, Sunaina Parbhu.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) an estimated 34 million children live with disabling hearing loss and many others with milder hearing losses.

In South Africa, hearing screening is not mandatory – leaving youth with undiagnosed hearing loss to face learning challenges.

The Loeries

The Loeries are the biggest brand communications awards in Africa and the Middle East Region and this year’s edition is the 45th edition. Night one of the prestigious awards took place on Thursday.

The Loeries Creative Week plays host to a number of activities including, masterclasses. Its International Seminar of Creativity, features experts in their fields, both local and international.

An after party will take place at Cabo Beach Club.

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