Zakes Bantwini is having his moment. He’s positively glowing. I meet the musician, songwriter, producer, businessman and self-proclaimed lover of suits a week before today’s 65th Grammy Awards.
Taking a seat at a boardroom table in Rosebank, he’s all smiles and dressed to the nines. It's clear he means business, however, doing interviews between last-minute preparations before he jets off to Los Angeles for the event.
When we made this record, we were making a record to be nominated for the Grammys
— Zakes Bantwini
Being a zooty dresser, there has to be some talk of what he’ll wear. “I’m definitely going to wear a suit. Which suit? At the moment, I don’t know. It’s going to be a suit and it’s going to be beautiful,” he beams.
Born Zakhele Madida, Zakes Bantwini is the performer’s stage name. Locally, he’s earned himself the affectionate title “King of Dance” and with nearly 20 years in the music industry, Bantwini is starting to rake up the awards.
Last year he claimed his first victory at the South African Music Awards with the award for best collaboration, as well as the Samro Composer Highest Airplay Award for his song Osama, featuring Kasango, from his 2021 Ghetto King album. And now he has his eyes set on a Grammy.
MANIFESTING
Bantwini was nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category with Wouter Kellerman and Nomcebo Zikode for their collaboration on Bayethe. The three will wave the South African flag high with Trevor Noah, who returns as host for the third consecutive year.
“I’m very optimistic that we’re going to come back with it. I have such a positive vibe about it,” Bantwini says confidently. “The funniest thing is that when we made this record, we were intentionally making a record to be nominated for the Grammys. We said: ‘Let’s make a Grammy [nomination-worthy] song’. So I wasn’t totally surprised. The power of manifestation is everything.”
This is Kellerman’s fourth Grammy nomination and if they walk away with the trophy, it will be the flautist’s second win. He scooped a Grammy at the 57th Annual Awards for his 2014 album Winds of Samsara, produced with Ricky Kej.
For Bayethe, the trio had to move fast. “[My business partner] was on the phone with Wouter saying the Grammys are closing on Friday so we need to make this record and make sure by Friday it’s submitted. That was on a Monday,” Bantwini recalls. They recorded the song in three studios and wrapped it up in less than a week.
HEAR WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY
The trio’s nomination follows on the heels of Black Coffee’s Grammy win last year in the category Best Dance/Electronic Album, for his album Subconsciously, earning him Grammy bragging rights available to a select few South Africans, including Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Soweto Gospel Choir.
“It’s really amazing to witness [more African artists being nominated for the Grammys],” says Bantwini. “I think it’s because the world now realises and sees Africa in her own right. The world no longer wants us to fit their narrative. They want to listen to us as we are. African music now can stand alone and be globally competitive and appreciated.”
The world isn’t only listening to our music; our ideas are also being welcomed. As Bantwini says, the globe is interested and ready to hear what we have to say.
Ahead of the awards, the Grammy Museum announced that Bantwini will take part in a panel discussion on the latest developments in global music. It will be hosted by Grid Worldwide joint CEO Adam Byars and feature South African music radio host TBO Touch; Bathu Sneakers founder and businessman Theo Baloyi, and local music executive Sibo Mhlungu.
“Now [the Grammy organisers] understand that it’s with or without them,” Bantwini adds. “You might as well give Africans an opportunity to come onto your platform because if you don’t they'll create their own platforms for their own conversations and you’ll have nothing to say.”
QUIT WHILE YOU'RE ON TOP
Last year Bantwini announced plans to retire as a recording artist after finishing his last studio album. His Grammy nomination — and potential win — doesn’t change anything.
“I always say you should quit while you’re on top. I think I’m on top so I want to be recognised as the guy who did it right.”
With Mhlungu, he recently launched talent agency IMG Africa and hopes to launch another soon, He also plans to continue to produce and write music, and is studying for a Harvard degree in the business of entertainment, music and sports. He will add this to qualifications from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and GIBS Business School.
“I plan to be with my kids and my family, spending more time with them. The music has taken a lot away from me and my family. I’ve paid my dues and I’ve sacrificed a lot. I’ve made people happy and I think it’s time I make myself happy.”
Bantwini's ambitions include sitting on the boards of the Recording Industry of South Africa (Risa), the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) or the SABC. “I’d love to sit [on] the SABC board because I think that something wrong is happening there. I feel there’s something I could do. I’m convinced — I’m stupid enough to do that.”
As for his immediate future, Bantwini feels he’s already won. “I’ll die as Zakes Bantwini, Grammy-nominated artist. Forever. You’ll never mention me and not say that now.”
And if he does win, he’ll go down in the history books as another symbol of inspiration for South Africans — a guy who grew up in KwaMashu, near Durban, and became a Grammy winner.
“That would be what this Grammy could mean — the power of collaboration, of black people and white people working together, the power of manifestation and the power of a dream. Saying I can do this, I can have a Grammy myself.”
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