Sha Sha

Sha Sha, real name Charmaine “Sha-sha” Mapimbiro, is a Zimbabwean born singer based in South Africa.

Background

Although Mutare is her home town, she spent some of her life in Bulawayo and South Africa because of the separation of her family. This helped her proficiency in isiZulu.^[1]

Career

Initially, Sha Sha wanted to be a nurse, but she found her true calling after encouragement from peers.

In 2013 she sent recordings of her singing covers to a radio station. The radio play led to her working with Audius Mtawarira, who became her mentor and helped her break into the South African music scene. While she was working towards my goal of moving to South Africa, she performed at the Harare International Festival of the Arts and got to meet her musical idol, Oliver Mtukudzi.

Her family was sceptical of her desire to move to Johannesburg and tried to persuade her to find gigs around Harare and Bulawayo instead.

In 2014, she let go of her plan to study nursing and set out for Jozi where she performed at restaurants and sang ballads at weddings. She befriended Melusi Mhlanga, a cab driver who drove her to her gigs.^[2]

Narrating how she met South African musician and record producer DJ Maphorisa she said:

I would do a lot of gigs at night and I had a cab driver and one day he asked me why I was always moving around at night and I told him it’s because I sing. Turns out he also drove DJ Maphorisa now and then so he introduced me to him. I sang for him and he liked my sound.

^[1]