BY PHUMZILE NDLOVU
MBABANE – Let’s give her her flowers!
Uncle Waffles rocked the debut Hey Neighbour Festival last night. The three-day global music festival made its debut show on Friday at Legends Adventure Farm, just outside Pretoria.
The festival wrapped up yesterday. It aimed to unite international and local artists. It was the first time it was held on African soil, packed with international performances that included artists from the United States of America (USA), including H.E.R., Khalid, and Kendrik Lamar, among others.
South African artists Nasty C and Tyla kicked off the show on Friday with a lit performance. The first of its kind, a three-day music and lifestyle festival, was organised by a South African company, Glen21 Entertainment Team. It was created and curated on South African soil to make waves in the African entertainment scene. The festival is not just another show but is aimed at gathering the global vibration of music, culture, and community.
Born Lungelihle Zwane 23 years ago, on her Instagram page, she shared her set, which, by the time of compiling this report, had over 78,000 views and showed killer dance moves. The Eswatini-born DJ and record producer is based in South Africa. She is noted for her work in the Amapiano genre and dance abilities, with Billboard describing her as the: Princess of Amapiano.
Her debut single, titled Tanzania, reached number one and went platinum in SA. She has gained the attention of some of the world’s biggest names, including Canadian rapper Drake. The world learned about DJ after Drake shared a photo of her and sent a shout-out to her. He did that twice. He first joined her on Instagram and called her a top DJ. Waffles tweeted that she was super excited and screamed for 10 minutes.
Last year, the DJ pulled in quite a crowd at her Dragons Den show on October 29. This year she closed Mbabane when she had her show at the Albert Millin Pop Sunday, fresh from performing at the global festival Coachealla and touring the US and Europe. She has become a global brand, playing for European soccer stars and touring global stages, killing it on the decks. She once shared that it was all a chain of events from the video clip of her on the decks that trended on one line. “People only knew about the Cosign from Drake the second day. I then received a text from someone asking if I was aware that Drake follows you. I went and checked and found many more, from producers to Jermaine Dupree. Then I followed him back. A lot of producers follow back, which feels great, but it gets even worse when they reach out. We love your story, which is unreal, especially when you reach out to me. We love what you are doing.”
This year alone she bagged her own Kentucky Fried Burger (KFC), the Waffles Burger which proved to be in demand as it sold out on the day it was launched in SA. She has partnered with Unilever and advertised sanitary pads. She also clinched a Jagemeister deal among other brands. US star Beyoncé also played her Tanzania song on her recent Renaissance tour.
