Zanzi’s dulcet voice just hits the right notes
"She wants to share the multi-cultural love with everyone and inspire people with her music."
Zanzi can easily be mistaken for Mango Groove’s leader singer Claire Johnston, both in looks and her with her incredible rendition of famous African songs.
Born Zandre Lopes, the Pretoria East-based artist has been described as an artist with a passion for people and music.
Zanzi’s music has a feel-good factor, with her eloquence in African languages such as Zulu, Sotho, Xhosa, Shona as well as English.
Her take on the popular song Vulindlela would have made the late Brenda Fassie proud. Fassie wrote and sang the award-winning song in the ’90s.
It has received airplay on different TV music programmes on various channels, including appearances on Morning LIVE, Expresso, JAM, Jukebox, Hectic Nine-9, SABC, kykNET and Channel O.
Her latest video, Chase the Sun, was recently released on Youtube and attracted a number of viewers. In addition, her latest single, Be The Change, was released on Jacaranda FM in December and is already making waves with its inspirational message of hope, love and being the change.
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Described as an artist with a passion for people and music, the kind of following which she has attracted over the past ten years makes perfect sense.
Zanzi has released five albums, of which Embracing Africa is the latest.
She started competing in singing competitions at the age of 13, when she received the “student of the year” award at her local music school.
“She got chosen to represent South Africa in the World Championships of Performing Arts – twice,” said her publicist, Wian Smith.
He said Zanzi has competed against artists from 52 countries in a competition in Los Angeles, winning gold and silver as well as the “industry award” for exceptional stage performance.
“After 10 years in the entertainment industry, Zanzi took on a whole new music genre and is now placing much more focus on different cultures in the African-universal market,” Smith said.
She has performed at several music festivals functions and corporate events, and her music has been well received and is playing on several top charts on various radio stations.
“Zanzi feels there’s a more satisfying future for her in changing people’s lives through music and bringing different cultures together,” said Smith. “There’s so much negativity in Africa and she wants to bring hope and show that there is space for different cultures to enjoy and embrace each other, instead of having a racial war.”
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Her album Embracing Africa features original songs written by Oriison (a local music producer), as well as covers from Brenda Fassie, Mafikizolo and Miriam Makeba.
With the single, Be the Change, Zanzi said she wanted to echo Mahatma Gandhi’s words and believes that one should be the change they wanted to see in the world.
“She wishes to bring joy, hope, love, education and goodness through to people around the world,” Smith said.
Together with her djembe drummer, Vic Thamsanqa, they perform as Zanzi Africa.
“Ultimately, she wants to share the multi-cultural love with everyone and inspire people with her music.”
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