eSwatini: 2023 CollaboNation artist match-ups announced

After a month-long call out-process that saw 366 applications received from across Southern Africa, the two 2023 CollaboNation match-ups are Thobile Makhoyane (eSwatini) and The Hood Brodz (Mozambique) as well as Mokoomba (Zimbabwe) and Morena Leraba (Lesotho).

These exciting pairings reflect the project aims of House on Fire’s CollaboNation, namely to connect and unite the region through a series of unique music collaborations, supporting the weaving together of Africa’s rich and diverse musical genres and building linkages between cultural industries and networks.

Thobile Makhoyane fuses her haunting vocals and traditional musical instruments like the makhoyane and sitololo with Western musical instruments to create a style of her own that will perfectly complement The Hood Brodz, a DJ and producer duo hailing from Bairro Trevo, a neighborhood in Maputo. The duo’s passions lie with Afro-deep house and Afro-tech.

Makoomba is a multi-ethnic band from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, whose sound blends genres as diverse as sungura, reggae, dancehall, urban and Afro-jazz with traditional rhythms and contemporary Zimrock, while Morena Leraba melds homegrown traditional famo-inspired vocals with a multitude of genres ranging from electronic dance to hip hop. 

“CollaboNation was born out of the COVID-19 pandemic as an answer to the question: in this time of restrictions on travel and physical interactions, how can we support artist brands and arts mobility while actively stimulating dynamic new work?” House on Fire and MTN Bushfire creative director Jiggs Thorne said.

“House on Fire decided to support collaborations because they have proven to drive success for African artists by cross-pollinating fan bases from different countries and genres, attracting media attention and thereby exposing not only the immediate artists but their national contemporaries to new markets and sub-markets in the region, and potentially the world.”

This first edition of the CollaboNation project invited artists from eSwatini, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, giving them the opportunity to collaborate by recording original and inspirational songs.

Future CollaboNation editions will be expanded to include more countries in Africa and beyond, with the eventual aim of arranging collaborations between African artists and those from other continents, and creating a truly global interchange of cultures and musical styles.

CollaboNation fans will be able to follow the creative journey of the artists as they come together to record music through intimate in-studio snippets and short documentaries. The journey will culminate in a live performance by the artists on the internationally celebrated stages of MTN Bushfire festival in eSwatini from 26 to 28 May 2023.

CollaboNation is funded by the Sound Connects Fund, an initiative of the Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) and Goethe-Institut. The Sound Connects Fund is made possible with funding from the ACP-EU Culture Programme, a project implemented by the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and funded by the European Union (EU). The Fund is also co-funded by Goethe-Institut and Siemens Stiftung.

More information about the CollaboNation project is available here.