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Heritage Month is over but our Africanness is not. To remind us that the end of September does not translate to the cessation of our heritage, on November 11 Sjava (Jabulani Hadebe to his family) brings the highly expected second instalment of his Imbizo Music Concert, which he said will be an even bigger and better than the first.
Sjava’s star-studded concert will bring together the likes of Maskandi icon Shwi who shot to fame with the hit Ngafa which captured even the hardened hearts of Maskandi naysayers back in the early 2000s, Mlindo the Vocalist, award-winning afro-pop duo Blaq Diamond, Big Zulu, Nomfundo Moh, Mzukulu, Mnqobi Yazo and vocalist and songwriter Aubrey Qwana. This year’s show will take place at Carnival City in the East Rand.
READ: South Africa’s multicultural heritage takes centre stage at the Folklore Festival
“Celebrating our heritage is not even about clothes and dressing a certain way. It is actually a way of life. I think it is very important especially for the youth to know the true meaning of being an African because our roots are our very lives.” he said.
He also clarified why the meaning of the word Imbizo is significant for this concert. Directly translated, the word refers to a special gathering of the people traditionally summoned by an important traditional leader.
What a privilege it is to live in a multi-cultural country where different tribes, ethnicities and belief systems are able to co-exist and learn from each other. Sjava said that the focal point of his Imbizo Music Concert is to showcase the diversity of South African music and our multiculturalism as South Africans is precisely what informed the choice of artists that he is working with in this concert.
He also highlighted the importance of bringing together a vast array of performers because one of the things that Sjava feels kills a lot of talented musicians’ careers is trying to sound like everyone else.
READ: Sjava takes one-man show to Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga
After the success of his inaugural Imbizo Music Concert last year in 2022, Sjava said that he learned some valuable lessons that were instrumental in curating an even better second offering.
Sjava believes in actually working hard to promote his brand instead of relying on superstardom to bring success his way. He intends to use the universal language that is music to play his part in uniting South Africans because, for him, the power of music lies more than just in entertainment. The Imbizo Music Concert is a build-up to Sjava's one-man show taking place in Mbombela later in the year.
