Somandla Ndebele

Somandla Ndebele
Image Via: Somandla Ndebele Facebook Profile
Born	(1971-12-14) December 14, 1971 (age 52) --> Kwekwe
Occupation	Musician
Years active	1986 - present

Somandla "Mafia" Ndebele is one of the most recorded Zimbabwean artist with over 25 albums recorded. His rise to prominence was in 1999 with the album 'Mwoyo Wekurera' which carried the hit track 'Masimba aMwari'. The latter featured Tongai Moyo and propelled Ndebele to national stardom.

Background

Somandla Ndebele was born on 14 December 1971 in Kwekwe. He is married and has five children, four boys and a girl. When he was young he was involved in an accident that would see his left wrist being amputated.^[1]

Music career

Somandla Ndebele's passion for music began when he was in high school at Sidakeni High School in Zhombe. He joined the school choir and was part of a group that won first prize in a Provincial choral competition. On relocating to Harare, his passion increased and and saw him making his own musical compositions. At this time he met one of the popular Sungura artists of the day, John Chibadura in 1986. The latter inspired Ndebele to become a full time musician and gave him a guitar that he used to record his single, 'Mandiomesera' in 1989.^[2] He recorded the song while in high school and the song found its way to then Radio 2 (now Radio Zimbabwe)'s top 20. In the same year, he recorded a joint album 'Mwoyo Wekurera' with Tongai Moyo which sold enough copies to buy him a car and some musical instruments. Mafia as he is often called by his legion of fans went on to produce albums which were "best selling" at that time. The album 'Zvamauya Zvanaka' sold over 60 000 copies and 'Makobvu Nematete' 20 000.^[3] From there, the humble artist never looked back and his consistence has seen him release 22 albums to date.^[4]