South African artist Zakes Bantwini has marked 20 years since he first signed L’vovo Derrango, after the two musicians reunited on stage at the Mayonie Open Air festival in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
The performance was held on Saturday, August 29, at Chris Saunders Park in Umhlanga, Durban, as part of an event that gathered music fans, artists, creatives and culture enthusiasts around South African music, culture and community.
Early signing and a Durban sound#
Bantwini said the two first met 20 years ago, when L’vovo came to Durban from Newcastle. Durban, he said, became a key setting for L’vovo’s early career and for the start of their working relationship.
“Twenty years ago, I met a young man from Newcastle in Durban. L’vovo Derrango. My brother,” Bantwini said.
According to Bantwini, he found L’vovo in Durban, trusted his potential and made him the first artist he ever signed, at age 24.
“It’s where I discovered him, believed in him, and signed him as my very first artist, ever, at just 24 years old. It’s where I built him a home at Mayonie Productions Label,” he said.
Bantwini said the music they made together felt distinct enough to need its own name, so he began calling it “Durban Kwaito Music”, tying the sound to the city where much of that early work was produced. The two later performed in Johannesburg, Cape Town and outside South Africa, including in Barcelona.
Reunion after two decades#
Their Durban festival set arrived two decades after Bantwini first found and signed L’vovo. He pointed out that some people in the crowd were born in the same year the two began working together.
“Yesterday, twenty years later, we stood on that same stage together in Durban, this time for my own festival,” he wrote.
Bantwini also spoke about harder chapters, including an accident that killed people they loved and a period when the two drifted apart.
“We fell out, and somehow found our way back to each other, because real brotherhood survives all of that,” he wrote.
L’vovo’s recovery and festival plans#
Bantwini also discussed L’vovo’s recovery from a stroke.
“Watching him fight to stand again. To speak again. To walk back into a studio. To reclaim pieces of himself and his glory,” Bantwini said.
He added that the experience was difficult to put into words. After L’vovo took the stage, Bantwini said he felt proud of him as an artist, survivor, fighter and brother, and recalled that L’vovo was his first signing.
The KwaZulu-Natal edition of Mayonie Open Air included music, performances, fashion and cultural experiences, with Telkom as the headline sponsor. L’vovo said the event felt like a positive celebration of South African music and artists, and stressed the value of platforms that open opportunities for performers and creatives.
Organisers described the event as a celebration of music, culture and community. A Johannesburg edition is planned, with organisers aiming to build on the KwaZulu-Natal event and bring the Mayonie experience to a wider audience.
