Elias Elijah Masilela (61) believes he will bring the award home after being nominated for the SATMA Music Awards.

The award showcases the richness of traditional music heritage nationally and globally.

Masilela believes he will bring this one home “I want my name to be in the history books of these awards, and that will only prove to other young people that age is only a number and one can still go for their dreams and achieve them.”

He also believes that winning the award will contribute by giving courage to young and emerging artists that it is possible, as was seen by one of the legends, Gogo Esther Mahlangu with her painting talent who made it in the world and that is enough to draw a piece of motivation from her.

Masilela was born and bred in the Nkangala District until he settled at KwaGuqa in Extension 9.

He began singing at age 11 and used to sing with his siblings and had always found himself singing in the streets, at weddings, funerals, and other functions.

“My first song which was inspired by the pandemic ‘Covid-19’ was released in 2020. Then in 2021, I released another album titled ‘Sinzingwenya,’ the second single which I am nominated for. I’m still busy with my album in a studio recorded by Bongani Mp ‘Trackmaster’ at Kwaggafontein. It’s a huge honour and a privilege to be nominated among other greats and young Ndebele artists representing our own music, which we are proud of,” explained Masilela.

Even though there are challenges faced by Masilela like that in the music industry, finding gigs in eMalahleni is very difficult as it is an urban area and cultural cohesion activities are not happening.

“One of my biggest highlights was winning the Ndebele Student Association online competition, which gave me a feature with KidX. The song we did was titled ‘Umraro’ track number 4 on KidX latest album titled ‘The father of Zen,’ which earned me another feature with Given Zulu who is yet to release his album with one of the songs we did,” added Masilela.

Masilela humbly requests the community of eMalahleni and the world to vote for him to put his name in the history books and to raise the flag of the city.

To vote for him, you can SMS 109 SATM 18 to 49495; SMS costs R1.50.

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