Freshlyground: Южноафриканский афрофьюжн

South African Afro Fusion band

Freshlyground was a band formed in Cape Town, South Africa in 2002. Freshlyground are best known for their collaboration on the afrofusion and soca single "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" alongside Colombian singer Shakira, which received worldwide recognition. The music video featuring the group garnered over 3 billion views on YouTube, which led it to become one of the most viewed videos on the platform.

Freshlyground's members cite diverse multi racial,multi cultural and multi national backgrounds inclusive of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Violinist and backing vocalist Kyla Rose Smith was associated with afrofusion dancer Gregory Maqoma's dance company, The Vuyani Dance Theatre, where she performed at the Centre National de la Danse in Paris and co wrote music while serving as the principal violinist. Smith pursued music studies throughout her schooling and focused on jazz during her time at university. At 15, Simon Attwell was a flautist in the Zimbabwe National Orchestra, later earning a scholarship to the Chethams School of Music in Manchester by age 17. Aron Turest Swartz studied piano with Merton Barrow at the Jazz Workshop in Cape Town during his teenage years before transitioning to drums and percussion in Dublin in 1998. Lead singer, Zolani Mahola had studied drama at the University of Cape Town and secured the lead role of Boniswa in the SABC1 television drama series Tsha Tsha. Drummer, Peter Cohen, formerly served as a drummer for Mango Groove. Mango Groove, formed in 1984 is a South African musical ensemble comprising 11 members. The band blends pop with township music genres such as marabi. Josh Hawks, backing vocalist and bassist was a prominent figure in the early '90s scene and played a pivotal role in the success of both The Streaks and the Zap Dragons.

Freshlyground released their debut album, Jika Jika, in early 2003. The commercial success of this album ultimately kick started their career and re affirmed their reputation as a fresh and vibrant young face in South African music. The commercial success of this album launched their career through their reputation as a vibrant South African band. The exposure from this album resulted in an invitation for the band to perform at both the Harare International Festival of the Arts and the Robben Island African Festival. This album was remixed by Keith Farquharson, remastered by Chris Athens and re released in 2008.

In 2004, Freshlyground participated in the opening of Parliament of South Africa by perfoganised as a celebration of ten years of democracy in South Africa. At the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), Freshlyground performed with Zimbabwean musician Oliver Mtukudzi. The band went on to perform alongside local legend Miriam Makeba, as well as Stanley Clarke and Femi Kuti at the North Sea Jazz Festival, held during April in Cape Town. July also marked a break from the recording studio for the band, who had been working hard on their then unreleased album Nomvula. The band took this time to perform at the Villa Celimontana Festival in Rome, Italy. Finally, in late 2004, Freshlyground released their very successful album, Nomvula. Although the uptake of the album was initially slow, it eventually went on to achieve double platinum status locally. Initial success was largely due to the catchy, feel good, lyrics of Doo Be Doo, which enjoyed significant play on local radio, it was also covered in Indonesian by singer Gita Gutawa. Follow up hits included I'd like and the signature track Nomvula, the former achieving unprecedented success on radio charts such as the 5FM Top 40, where it remained at No. 1 for several weeks.

The album Ma'Cheri was released on 3 September 2007. The album was again produced by JB Arthur and Victor Masondo, engineered by David Langemann and was recorded in Cape Town. The first single is called Pot Belly followed by Fired Up and Desire.

Freshlyground's album Radio Africa was released in May 2010, and as part of the album release, they released a collaborative music video with the ZANews puppeteers. A satirical track about Robert Mugabe (Chicken to Change) has received coverage in the British media.

On 23 January 2010, Freshlyground performed at the official inauguration game at the new Cape Town Stadium, where local Cape Town football clubs Ajax Cape Town and Santos played each other in a match decided on penalties.

A song by Colombian pop star Shakira and Freshlyground was the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The song, titled "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", is based on "Zangalewa", a popular Makossa African soldiers' song by Golden Sounds. "Zangalewa" was a hit single in Colombia in 1987. Shakira and Freshlyground performed the song at the pre tournament kick off concert in Soweto on 10 June. The following July, the band also took part in the official handing over ceremony, which took place in South Africa.

"This album captures the emotion, the passion and the energy of our live performances", explains violinist Kyla Rose Smith adding, "our live concerts have always been at the bedrock of our popularity", she says.

The band's sound is primarily afro fusion, a dance genre and fusion genre, musical style which emerged in South Africa between the 1970s and 1980s. The band's songs are multilingual citing languages such as Xhosa, English, French and Zulu their fusion of genres, alongside individual genres encompasses an experimental wide range crossover including kwaito, folk, kwela, indie rock, jazz and blues.

In 2005, Freshlyground was nominated for three South African Music Awards for their 2004 album, Nomvula. Although they won no SAMAs that year, in 2008 the Recording Industry of South Africa awarded them the coveted Best Duo or Group SAMA. In the same year, their 2007 album Ma' Cheri won the prestigious Album of the Year SAMA, as well as Best Adult Contemporary Album: English, and Best Engineer. At the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards in Copenhagen, Freshlyground became the first South African musical act to receive honours from MTV, when they received the MTV Europe Music Award for Best African Act. At the 2008 Channel O Music Video Awards, the band received the "Best Africa, Southern" accolade for their single "Pot Belly". In 2008 the band was awarded the South African Music Awards for their album "Macheri."