The soulful voice of multi-award winning South African musician, Zahara, will be hitting the stage at the Tropical Vibes Music Fest this weekend in Maple Ridge.
Bulelwa Mkutukana, best known by her stage name Zahara, is not only excited to be in Maple Ridge, a place she describes as a second home – she is excited to be a part of the local festival that has drawn thousands to the Albion Fairgrounds over the years.
“To think I am in the lineup with such incredible people,” said Zahara looking at a flyer for the festival coming up Aug. 5 and 6.
Zahara’s story is also incredible. She only picked up a guitar because her sister had a guitar which she never played. Her parents couldn’t afford to put her into music lessons so she learned the instrument herself. She sang in her school’s choir when she was six-years-old and when she was nine she was asked to join the senior choir because of her strong voice.
Now she is performing in front of thousands the world over and has more than 452,000 followers online.
“Till today, I don’t know chords, I don’t know notes, but I can play each and every song that you want me to play,” she said.
Zahara explained she writes songs about her life, describing herself as a storyteller through melodies. Her music falls into the music genre afro-soul, a genre characterized by emotional vocals.
She sings in both her native language Xhosa and in English. And, she said, without even understanding Xhosa, you can still feel her soul in every song.
“It’s in me, it’s what I live for. It’s like, something that you can wake me up at 12 a.m. and go and do because it’s in me,” she said.
Even though, Zahara noted, her music can make you cry.
READ MORE: Tropical Vibes Music Fest coming up in Maple Ridge
“Still it heals you. Still it makes you dance,” she said.
Zahara has five albums under her belt. Her first album, Loliwe, was released at the beginning of 2011, Phendula came out next at the beginning of 2013, followed by Country Girl in 2015, Mgodi in October 2017, and Nqaba Yam in August, 2021. She also has one live album called The Beginning that she released at the beginning of 2012.
ALSO: Thousands attend Caribbean Fest in Maple Ridge
She has also played across Canada since 2011, in front of audiences in Calgary, Toronto, Saskatoon, and in the territory of Nunavut.
Zahara will be playing a 45 minute set starting at 1:15 p.m. on the Caribbean Stage on Sunday Aug. 6. And she is planning to showcase songs from all of her albums.
What she loves about singing at a live venue is how people’s eyes light up when she sings.
“When I see people jolly, people, like, smiling, at least I know I’ve done something for somebody. They will go home happy, whatever troubles they came with,” she said.
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