BY LIFE & STYLE REPORTER
VICTORIA FALLS-BASED rising singer Andrea Sibanda is making waves in a foreign land after his song Endleleni went viral on a video-sharing social networking service Tiktok in South Africa.
The development comes after the 12-year-old Sibanda performed the emotional song at a funeral and the video found its way to Tiktok where the original post gained more than 1,5million views within a short period.
This attracted the attention of South African artist Aubrey Qwana who had to record a rendition of the song that has already gained more than 2 million views on the short-form video platform.
Zimbabwean born and South Africa-based artist manager and record label owner, Tendai Joe, who is now working with the rising singer said he had to search for him after he learnt that the boy is from Zimbabwe.
“I could not help repeating the song (Endleleni) over and over and when I saw people arguing that the boy must be either Zulu or Ndebele, I took it upon myself to search for him. A friend, Plot Mhako, made it possible for me to connect with the family,” he said.
“I had to first seek permission to work with Sibanda from his parents, since he is a minor. Both his parents gave blessings to me to assist him to record, release and distribute the song. We are looking at this song as one of the potential top summer songs in South Africa.”
He said many people relate to the song adding that he will use their infrastructure and networks to ensure the project gets the exposure it deserves, including radio and tv airplay.
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“Sibanda’s single will be recorded in the coming weeks and released under JBross Entertainment, with plans to release its video by mid-November,” he said.
“100% proceeds from all activities related to the project will go towards his (Sibanda’s) upkeep, education and future interests. Corporates interested to be part of the project can contact me.”
The singer’s father Ntando said; “We are excited that someone has noticed our son’s talent and reached out to us. We think this is a blessing from God and we will pray so that everything goes well.”
Mother Sanelisiwe added; “This is a good thing, we thank God. My child has a singing talent, we thank Mr Joe for reaching out and trying to help him. We hope everything goes well.”
Sibanda, the Grade 7 pupil at Chinotimba Primary School is the second born in a family of four children, with an older sister who is 18 and two siblings aged seven and five months respectively.
Follow Winstone on Twitter @widzoanto
