Soweto Acapella still on the rise

What started out as a hobby between friends, has blossomed into one of the most well-known Acapella groups in the country. Soweto Acapella began in the streets of Mofolo and somehow found itself featured on South Africa’s most-watched drama series, Uzalo.

The group’s lead singer, Sihle Khumalo said he was still surprised, “It’s one of those things that someone has to remind you that it is happening because you can’t believe it,” he said of the experience.

“We were performing along Vilakazi Street in Orlando when one of the show’s Directors spotted us. They told us they would like us to make an appearance on the series. We would be featured as one of the choirs to perform at the choir competition, which aired during Uzalo’s first season. It sounded like a prank at the time, but the next thing we knew, we were shooting.”

The moment was significant in more ways than one – It came at a time when the boys were getting desperate. After completing their matric the previous year, most of them had little to no plan of what to do next. They started performing along Vilakazi Street in Soweto.

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They became familiar faces – restaurants were booking them to perform for guests every other day. This soon became a norm: on any given day, at any given restaurant you could find them performing their soulful melodies.

The three years before that fateful day had been difficult for the boys. Their former Manager, Sibusiso Cele recalled how they approached him to handle the technical and financial side on behalf of the group in 2014.

“They were teenagers at that point, and they wanted someone a bit older to handle the technical side. I was able to set up a few performances for them to gain exposure. They were probably in Grade 10 when they performed at my workplace and they were impressed. They already had the talent, but we struggled to find them a platform. Fortunately, they had an incredible work ethic too – they could perform from the first restaurant at the bottom of Vilakazi Street and work their way up. All I had to do was make sure they were not taken advantage of and handle their finances,” he said.

Cele passed on the reigns of Manager in 2017 but said he was pleased to see the group still going from strength to strength.

Soweto Acapella has made appearances on LIVE AMP, performed at the then Nkandla Presidency, before flying off to Namibia to perform on the international stage. Despite all these achievements, the group is just getting warmed up. Khumalo confirmed that the acapella group intends to release a song titled Intombi Enhle in 2021. On top of that, fans can also look forward to seeing the group on the television screen in a new show called Mbonge Esaphila which is set to hit TV screens in February 2021.