Khuzani

With its signature acoustic guitar and bouncing concertina, modern maskandi is the roots music of Zulu migrant culture and Khuzani Mpungose is one of its eminences. Khuzani was born in 1998 in the rural KwaZulu-Natal municipality of Nkandla, where he grew up herding cattle. In 2011, he released his debut album, Bahluleke Bonke, and his high, somewhat nasal voice invited comparisons to maskandi king Mqgumeni Khumalo, who had passed away two years earlier. Khuzani made a maskandi splash in 2012 with Amampunge, and scored a hit five years later with the collaboration-packed album Isixaxa Samaxoki. Known as the “president of the blue nation” for his taste in shirts, Khuzani reached another peak in 2020 with the release of iSpoki Esingafi, whose track "Ijele" became a maskandi anthem and was voted song of the year by the predominantly Zulu listeners of national radio station Ukhozi FM.