Ndithini Mbali

Biography

“Emonti”

Ndithini Mbali was born in East London in the family of musicians. Her Grandfather was a music lecturer and a founder member of the African jazz Quavers in the 1960’s.Ndithini’s mother is a singer, song writer and a piano Player. Her brother is a recording artist Known as SliqAngel of the Amantongomane fame.

Ndithini started playing music at the age of 12, taught by her Grandfather. After a few years of hard training and practice she was ready to perform in front of an audience. As a teenager it was often challenging and exciting at the same time to play with veterans, and from them she has learnt a lot. Together with her Grandfather including her brother, they used to perform in many functions such as weddings, graduation parties, funerals and mainly live performances while she was still a teenager.

In 1998 she decided to take her musical career to another level by traveling a long distance from the Eastern Cape to Johannesburg to seek a recording deal, but that didn’t happen soon as she was expecting. She met Moses Khumalo who introduced her to the Jazz Maroons, a female band that welcomed her and started working together with her as they were in need of a female saxophone player.

In 2003 while taking a break back home in the Eastern Cape, she joined the Queenstown based band called Heritage. Together with the Heritage band they played at a function organized by the African National Congress in memory of the late Chris Hani. After almost a year with the Heritage band she decided to go back to Jo’burg.

In 2004 she started working on her solo project. While working on her album she formed a band and in December 2004 she organized a show where she performed with her band featuring SliqAngel and Mxo. In 2005 she

performed at the launch of a Jazz club where Dorothy Masuka, Abigail Kubheka, Themba Mokoena and Bheki Khoza were also performing. She was booked at the JOHANNESBURG ARTS FESTIVAL, the PLAYTIME FESTIVAL and the FITZBURG JAZZ FESTIVAL in the Free State where she performed along side Jabu Khanyile, Bhudaza and Zamajobe. Together with her brother SliqAngel, she played at the MTV Base Festival in Cape Town alongside John Legend from USA as the supporting act. In 2006 after completing her album that took over a year to complete, she participated in a show in East London sharing the stage with Ringo Madlingozi, SliqAngel and Lulama Gaulana.

Ndithini’s 14 track album is called EMONTI.