South Africa - Johannesburg - 13 February 2023 - South Africa singer and record producer Zakhele “Zakes Bantwini” Madida speaks about his latest achievements. Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency (ANA)
Johannesburg - No more Grammys for award-winning superstar Zakes Bantwini, who won the coveted Grammy award two weeks ago alongside fellow musicians Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman.
The local stars were awarded for their hit song Bayethe with a gong in the Best Global Music Performance category on Sunday, February 5, in Los Angeles.
Their win came a year after Zakes Bantwini’s long-time collaborator Black Coffee won the same award in 2022.
Bantwini, who recently lost his father due to gun violence, said more needs to be done to stop the violent crimes involving guns that have visited the country’s local musicians.
This comes just days after rapper AKA real name Kiernan Forbes was gunned down outside a nightclub on Florida Road, and a week after Amapiyano artist Ma R5 Ho, who was killed in a similar fashion in Pretoria, and DJ Somebody, who was killed by gun violence last year.
"I recently lost my father due to gun violence. We are slowly becoming a country that is at war with itself. I think the government really needs to pay attention to gun violence. In a country that people find it difficult for the law to protect them and the system fails them, it becomes easy for lawlessness to prevail, and people try to protect themselves through the use of a gun, which in itself creates a system of lawlessness. So, we really need the government to act in this regard," Bantwini said.
Bantwini, who in the past spoke strongly about the lack of support artists and the sector receive from government, said he feels as though leaders lack the understanding needed in order to meaningfully invest in the country’s arts and culture sector, which he said has the potential to create jobs and contribute more to the country’s economy.
"I think there is a lack of understanding of how this industry can help create jobs. I think our leaders need to sit down with us and really try to understand how the sector works and what kind of support we need in order for it to create more jobs that the country needs. The arts and culture sector is being overlooked while it has the potential to rival the mining sector in terms of creating jobs, and the youth, who are the most affected, are at the centre of the country’s economy when it comes to the arts as they have the energy and passion that needs to be developed and invested in," he said.
Following his Grammy win, Bantwini said he and his collaborators were intentional with the song "Bayethe" and did their research on what it takes to submit a song that is worthy of a Grammy award.
"We were very intentional with the song when we began working on it. We did our research and saw the submission dates and the criteria that needed to be nominated. So I can't say that I was surprised when we were nominated. We had expected it, and we went for the stars instead of the moon. This goes out to show that when you aim for the stars, you can achieve the stars, and when you aim for the moon, that is what you are going to get," he said.
With this latest award, a few shows, and his last album sometime this year and beyond, Bantwini aims to sit back and focus on business and not music.
"The aim is to retire after the release of my last album. I then plan to just focus on being a venture capitalist, among other things," he said.
The Star