ZAKES BANTWINI, Nomcebo Zikode and flautist Wouter Kellerman, won a Grammy award for Best Global Music Performance for their collaboration song titled Bayethe.
Hosted by another South African comedian Trevor Noah, the 65th annual Grammy awards were held on Sunday, 5 February at Los Angeles, Carlifornia.
The trio was up against Nigeria’s Burna Boy, USA’s Matt B, Ghana’s Rocky Dawuni, Uganda’s Eddy Kenzo and Pakistan’s Arooj Aftab.
“Thank you so much. This is such a beautiful moment, on the road to sharing South African music and culture with the world. Thank you Nomcebo, thank you Zakes for your incredible creativity. Thanks to Tulsi Pillay my manager and friend who stood with me. Thanks to JB and all the musicians who worked on the album.
Thanks to you all my peers who’ve supported us, I’ll never forget it,” said Kellerman.
Zakes Bantwini added: “I just want to say, we are coming from Africa, South Africa. And this moment right here to anybody who’s in Africa just proves and affirms that every dream is valid.
And I wanna say thank you very much to the academy and thank you very much to each and everyone. Every child in the ghetto, in the village, just know it’s possible.”
Nomcebo sang a short of her biggest song to date, Jerusalema, before thanking her family and team.
This was Kellerman’s 4th Grammy nomination and second win. Both Zakes and Nomcebo were winning it for the first time.
The team follows in the footsteps of Black Coffee whom won Grammy in 2022, and the likes of Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Soweto Gospel Choir and Lebo M.
Image supplied (Proud mzansi export Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman at the 65TH Grammys).
