Bala Brothers

One of South Africa's most popular singing groups, the Bala Brothers are a vocal trio who pay little mind to musical boundaries, performing everything from pop, R&B, and hip-hop to opera, gospel, and traditional South African folk styles. The Bala Brothers' story is also one of a changing South Africa, where three youngsters who grew up under the oppressive yoke of apartheid played a small but very real part in the battle for racial equality and became symbols of new thinking and opportunities after apartheid finally collapsed. The Bala Brothers were founded by Zwai Bala, born in 1976, the oldest of three brothers whose parents met when they were members of a choral group. Growing up in Kwa-Nobuhle Township outside Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, where the family lived in a small home without electricity, Zwai showed a precocious talent for music at the age of five, when his grandfather, who composed choral music, had the boy assist him with writing arrangements, and at the age of ten Zwai had assembled his own choir. In 1988, when he was 12, Zwai made headlines in South Africa when he became the first Black member of the prestigious Drakensberg Boys Choir, at a time when the law still defined Blacks as second-class citizens. Zwai had already cut his first record with a gospel group and landed a role in the South African stage musical King Africa. While attending school in Johannesburg, Zwai fell in with some friends interested in hip-hop and beatboxing; combining these street sounds with kwaito, a form of South African house music, they formed the group TKZee, who scored their first hit single in 1997 and enjoyed commercial success through much of the '80s. The middle brother, Loyiso Bala, was born in 1979, and like Zwai he demonstrated a gift for music at an early age. In 1989 he followed his brother into the Drakensberg Boys Choir, and in his teens he turned his attention to R&B music. He released his first single in 2001, and in 2002 he appeared on an album of acts affiliated with TKZee. The year 2003 saw the release of Loyiso's first solo album, Wine, Women, and Song, and he became one of South Africa's most popular R&B singers, scoring hits like "Angel," "Cappuccino," "Gimme the Night," and "Girl Without a Name." And the youngest of the Balas, Phelo Bala, followed his siblings' example and joined the Drakensberg Boys Choir in his teens, where he rose to become Head Chorister and Music Leader. Phelo went on to study music at St. Stithians College, and spent time as a member of the South African gospel group Joyous Celebration before he became a major R&B star in Africa under the name PheloB. While Zwai, Loyiso, and Phelo all distinguished themselves as solo artists, they've frequently worked together as a trio, and together they've become a leading live attraction in South Africa and appeared at many official events, most notably headlining the 2013 Nelson Mandela Memorial Concert in Cape Town, where they performed for a sold-out crowd of 55,000 people, including Winnie Mandela. Having conquered South Africa and successfully toured Europe and the United Kingdom, the Bala Brothers next set their sights on building an audience in the United States. At the Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg, the Balas staged a special concert that was taped for a television special to be aired in America on PBS; the soundtrack to the special, simply titled The Bala Brothers, became their first major release in North America.
© Mark Deming /TiVo