PelePele Cultural Group

Founded by Larry Mhlanga in Mbabane, Swaziland in 2013, PelePele Cultural Group is a multidisciplinary music and dance production outfit that brings together various art forms such as theatre, dance, music and film. It is a unique music and dance group in the Kingdom of Swaziland made up of a cast of 30 Swazi dancers, singers, indigenous musicians and drummers.

The group is gifted with multi-colored, powerful cultural dances, intrepid voice and a talent for writing songs. The music outfit creates dances which reflect on the daily life and unique culture of the people of Swaziland.

Their blending of Southern African traditions such as mbira, sitolotolo, marimba, makhoyane and the traditional drumming styles Djembe drumming & ngoma drumming, has created such a unique sound which has been appreciated by audiences of different races.

The group has produced a number of stage and public productions and has also been booked on a number of cooperate, national and international festival and events. Some of them include the MTN Mobile Money Campaign (Drama – Edutainment Ongoing) in 2011. They also performed in 150 schools at the Likusasa Ngelami Project in conjunction with Pom-Pom.

In September 2014, PelePele was selected to participate in an international dance competition in South Korea with an over E5 million (USD $500 000) prize at stake. The local dance troupe competed against dance groups, each ranging from 25 to 40 participants from 20 countries. Participating countries included the host South Korea, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, South Africa, Poland, Siberia, Albania, China and Taiwan.

In 2012 and 2013, they were the winners at the Swaziland international trade fair dance competition. They were nominated for three years in a raw for the Best Traditional Music Group at Tihlabani Awards. In 2013 and 2014, they won the Best Dance Group of The Year at the National Arts and Culture Awards. In that same year, they also won the best Theatre Group of The year award at the same event.