Shalom Zamisa from eMbalenhle was born for the stage

SECUNDA – Growing up in a devoted Christian family shaped the perseption of Shalom Zamisa about life and he dreamt of living a life that will impact others.

Shalom is a talented musician and theatre actor who was born and raised in eMbalenhle and is now based in Cape Town.

He is the second son of Past Simon and Ms Lindi Zamisa.

His name Shalom means peace in Hebrew and he is 27 years old.

He was in the Secunda Christian Academy and completed matric at the National School of Arts.

The most significant thing about his childhood and teen years, was his father’s accordion, his first experience with music.

Shalom said his father kept the accordion in the boot of his car to enable him to have it with him whenever the occasion arose, such as night vigils, churches, weddings, family gatherings and random get-togethers.

Being raised in that environment developed Shalom’s love for music.

Though he went to varsity to study law, he decided to follow his heart and passion to study music instead.

“The reason why I changed, was that music felt like the natural thing to do.

“I changed from a BA Law to Bachelor of Music, majoring in jazz performance.

“I did not study drama formally, but was involved in theatre in high school and on campus at the Wits School of Arts.

“Music is my life, I began singing as a child.

“I do not remember not singing.

“On one of my crèche report cards, my one teacher wrote something to the effect of: ‘Shalom is a very well-behaved and respectful child, but he needs to know when not to sing in class.’

“It all began at home and then church and I guess from then on music became a kind of language to me.”

Shalom’s first role in acting was in the children’s Christmas show, “Santa’s Magic Music Box” at the Barnyard Theatre.

He was 15 years old at the time and he played an elf.

That was the first time that he got paid to perform.

His recent role was that of Polo in “King Kong”, the musical, in which he played a 14-year-old boy in an unnamed township.

“I played one of the four boys who got to go back in time and experience Sophiatown and the story of King Kong, the legend boxer.

“Playing this character was challenging and we would be on stage for the entire show.

“Also, I am not really a dancer, but because it was a musical, I had to learn to dance with a lot of help from Gregory Maqoma.”

Though he is happy in his career, Shalom said it can be demanding and stressful.

He said it becomes difficult to socialise and to maintain personal relationships because of work schedules.

Shalom said most people work from 9am to 5pm, so when most people are coming home, he goes to work.

He dreams of playing James Baldwin in a biopic about his life.

“I do not have any one particular actor I would love to do this particular movie with, maybe there are just too many amazing actors to mention just one.

“In the next five years I plan to do at least three feature films, a whole lot of theatre and tons of writing.”