MTN Bushfire / CollaboNation Press Release
MTN Bushfire is excited to announce this year’s CollaboNation artists: Madala Kunene X Sibusile Xaba X Tlale Makhene.
CollaboNation is an annual arts development project supported by MTN and produced by Bushfire Records. CollaboNation aims to connect and unite the continent through a series of unique music collaborations, supporting the weaving together of Africa’s rich and diverse musical genres and building linkages between cultural industries and networks.
CollaboNation fans can follow the creative journey of these legendary artists on social media, with intimate in-studio snippets and short documentaries, as they come together to record the song at House On Fire, in the Kingdom of Eswatini.
The journey culminates in a live performance by the artists on the internationally celebrated stages of the MTN Bushfire international festival of the arts, to be held from 30 May—1 June, 2025, with the audio track subsequently being released on all major platforms.
“King of Zulu Guitar” – Doctor Madala Kunene
Known as the “King of Zulu Guitar”, Doctor Madala Kunene has an honorary Doctorate in Music by the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, for his lifelong and ongoing contribution to the development of indigenous music and to the music of Africa and that of the world. Born in 1947 in Mkhumbane (Cato Manor), a vibrant mixed community just outside of inner Durban, Kunene reflects his environment, and his music acts as an urban war cry. “Music is the best medium to record and tell history. As African people, the way we know and understand our past is very influenced by music,” Kunene says.
Sibusile Xaba – Guitar Savant & Cultural Activist
Charismatic South African guitar savant and cultural activist, Sibusile Xaba, reframes Maskandi and the Avant Garde into his own humanist manifesto, and a focus on healing the soul and body by living as one with Mother Earth. With a vocal style that is part dreamscaping and part ancestral invocation, Xaba divines as opposed to plainly singing. Combined with a guitar style that is rooted in expressive picking, Xaba’s music shatters the confines of genre, imbuing his music with a mythology and improvisational intensity all of his own.
Tlale Makhene – Son of The Soil & SAMA Award Winner
Tlale Makhene started drumming at a young age in Eswatini, inspired by the rhythms of his traditional healer grandmother. He has released two albums: “Ascension of the Enlightened,” which won the MTN SAMA Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 2005, and “Swazi Gold”, reflecting his musical roots and influences. Tlale has performed on stages worldwide, and collaborated with several international artists, performing with the Copenhagen Rhythmic Conservatory Big Band, as well as working with notable artists like Johnny Clegg, Miriam Makeba, and Hugh Masekela.
To follow this amazing collaborative journey with in-studio vids, artist reels, and other audio and visual releases leading up to MTN Bushfire 2025, simply follow “CollaboNation” on Facebook, Instagram, and @CollaboNation_ on Twitter as well as subscribing to the CollaboNation YouTube channel. For more information, check out the CollaboNation section on the MTN Bushfire website: www.bush-fire.com/collabonation
