Zolani Mahola | Celebrity Singer

Zolani Mahola is a singer, an actress, an Inspiration Speaker and an agent for social change. Zolani Mahola aka The One Who Sings

Born in Port Elizabeth in 1981, she studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Cape Town where she met musicians with whom she would later form pan-African multi-cultural multi-genre band Freshly Ground in 2002.

17 years and 7 albums later Freshly Ground has gone on to become a household name in South Africa and is one of Africa’s most acclaimed and successful bands. They have captured the heart of the continent and have also claimed global recognition.

Zolani Mahola | Celebrity Singer

One highlight of their near two decade career was a collaboration with pop superstar Shakira with whom they recorded the official song for the FIFA World Cup 2010 and performed it at the opening and closing ceremony for a global audience of over a billion people. The band has to date opened stages for and collaborated with such artists as Stevie Wonder, BB King, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Robbie Williams, Oliver Mtukudzi, Vusi Mahlasela and Busi Mhlongo to name but a few.

Zolani Mahola is well loved and respected by South Africans for unifying the country through music and bridging social, racial and cultural divides. As an artist, she explores themes of identity and belonging and she shares a message of individual agency and responsibility.

She firmly believes that though we are all connected and have much in common, “our individual stories are unique; we must be curious about them, to find the reason we were put on this planet and to realise our full expression.”

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