Zwai Bala


Zwai Bala is a South African kwaito and gospel musician.

Education

Bala studied at the Drakensberg Boys' Choir School, near Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal, and matriculated at St. Stithians College in 1993. He then pursued an online Master's Certificate in Orchestration for Film and Television at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He came to public attention in 1997 as a member of the kwaito group TKZee.

Career

When he was 11 years old, he entered The Shell Road to Fame talent show and reached the semi-finals. Together with school friends Kabelo Mabalane and Tokollo Tshabalala, he formed kwaito group TKZee. TKZeereleased their singles "Take It Eezy", holiday hit "Phalafala" and their top-selling "Shibobo"
, which featured South Africa national football team player Benni McCarthy. Later, Bala began a solo musical career.
Bala is a music director and producer, who has worked on musicals featuring Ali Campbell of UB40
, produced Grace from the two-time Grammy award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir, and has been the featured soloist at the Classical FM–Lexus Soiree at the Sandton Intercontinental.
He was a celebrity contestant on the first season of the SABC 2 reality competition Strictly Come Dancing in 2006, partnered with professional ballroom dancer Kego Motshabi. The pair finished third.

Songs

His television appearances include:
In 2002 he received a South African Music Award For his single Lifted and in 2019 Bala and the TKZee members received a SAMA award for Lifetime Achievement.