Slotta puts Eswatini on international stage
MBABANE – Welcome to America!
Slotta is set to release four Extended Plays (EPs) with a &alifornia (8nited States of America) based record label 'eeper Shades of +ouse ('S2+).
%orn 1icholas Sibusiso 'lamini ( ), he has, in a period of four months, released EPs which consist of four tracks each.
Slotta started his musical Mourney as a vocalist back in the year 200 . +e used to hanJ around Sub-amz at his studio and watch him at work, which is where his interest in makinJ music beJan. In 2011, while doinJ his second-year at 9aal 8niversity, he bouJht a laptop, installed fruity loops- music production software and started makinJ +ip +op beats.
Collection
'eep house music started invokinJ his interest so he started addinJ more Jenres to his collection. Soon after that, he started doinJ bootleJ remixes and would send them to the oriJinal owners who dismissed them with no interest. The artist didn’t let this deter him.
In early 2012, he sent his stuff to a renowned South African label called Soul &andi, without any luck. +e submitted his material to 'S2+ and finally his luck turned around and his EP was released in 201 . In 201 a sinJle called µLove hold on’ remixed by Satoshi )umi (a renowned -apanese '- and producer) was released under 'S2+. This was a busy year for the artist as under Antidote music (a local label) he released his second EP titled µT.+.I.S’ which is an acronym for µThe +uman Inside’.
'urinJ the same year he collaborated with Motherland ;, which is a local record label. This definitely opened doors for collaborations with local producers and others from across the borders of Eswatini. 'urinJ this partnership they worked on remixes for artists includinJ &assper 1yovest, TsheJo, Solr, 9eezo and ;MPL. The year 201 also came with the winninJ the inauJural %eatscramble hosted by Motherland ; for this artist. While searchinJ for more opportunities, Stellar disco, a record label from 1orway came knockinJ on his door and he started workinJ on +ouse remixes for them alonJside .irko 1avaro and trumpet Jreat, .afele.
Features
In 201 he released his third EP called µWired 'eep’, which came out under Stellar 'isco 5ecords in 1orway and featured a remix which he collaborated with South African artist '28muzic plus two remixes for '- &zar’s EP where he features S-Tone also came out under Antidotemusic. )or this musician this has shaped up to be an amazinJ year as he won the first ever SWAMA (Swazi Arts and Music Association) %est +ouse Artist award in the country. The +ouse music cateJory was featured for the first time ever.
+e not only has released his four EPs in the 8nited States, &alifornia, but he’s also worked with South African Jroup Mi &asa. In 201 the talented artist was chosen as one of the top 10 finalists to remix a Mi &asa sonJ called Love Iss and won a studio session with the world renowned Jroup. This Jave him a chance to produce music with them.
Categories
The artist has been nominated 10 times for SWAMAs in different cateJories namely, %est +ouse Artist, SWAMA 201 , and SonJ of the When reached for comment, Slotta said ³I’m very excited considerinJ that this music has been in the works for a while. What should’ve been a simple four-track EP release escalated to 1 tracks now because there’s so much music,” said the artist. +e went on to say he hoped listeners Jet some healinJ as we are all havinJ some of the craziest times on this planet. +e further shared that he made the music cominJ from a place of deep emotion and hopes it touches his fans the same way it touched him. The ◗ Africa: ‘And the earth drank deep’ by Ntsika Kota (Eswatini) Asia: ‘The Last Diver on Earth’ by Sofia Mariah Ma (Singapore) Canada and Europe: ‘A Hat for Lemer’ by Cecil Browne (United Kingdom/St Vincent and the Grenadines) Caribbean:‘Bridge over the Yallahs River’ by Diana McCaulay (Jamaica) Pacific: ‘The Nightwatch’ by Mary Rokonadravu (Fiji) The five regional winners’ stories will be published online by the literary magazine Granta, ahead of the announcement of the overall winner. ◗ ◗ ◗ ◗ full list of regional winners: The Commonwealth Short Story Prize, which is administered by the Commonwealth Foundation, is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from any of the Commonwealth’s 54 member States. It is the most accessible and international of all writing competitions: In addition to English, entries can be submitted in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil,and Turkish.ABOUT COMMONWEALTH SHORT STORY PRIZE