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Music Landmark

Mandoza

1978 – 2016

Nkalakatha — the kwaito record that crossed every line in South Africa

Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the South Africa Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.

Why they are here

Nkalakatha came out in 2000 and was played in townships and suburbs alike, which almost nothing was at the time. He was thirty-eight when he died.

Mduduzi Thembinkosi Edmund Tshabalala, known as Mandoza, was born on 17 January 1978 and came up through Chiskop, the pioneering kwaito group from Zola in Soweto.

His 2000 album Nkalakatha and its title track — township slang for top dog — became one of the few South African records of the era played across every audience in the country. He died on 18 September 2016, aged thirty-eight, after cancer spread to his brain.
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