Mohalenyane Phakela
GRAMMY award-nominated American Soul and RnB star, Syleena Johnson has promised music fans the show of lifetime when she makes her debut appearance in Lesotho on 24 December alongside a star-studded cast of local and African acts.
The singer, songwriter and actress is billed to perform at the 11th edition of the annual Lesotho Tourism Festival (LETOFE) at Thaba Bosiu Cultural Village on Christmas Eve.
She will share the stage with local and continental heavyweights such as Tšepo Tšola, Mookho Moqhali and Nthakoana Ngatane (all Lesotho), Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe) and Mafikizolo (South Africa).
Syleena debuted on the music scene in 1995 when she collaborated with her father, Syl Johnson on the album This Time Together by Father and Daughter.
Her first solo project, Love Hangover followed four years later and earned a recording deal with Jive Records. She has nine albums to her name and a duet album with renowned American singer Musiq Souchild titled 9INE released in 2013.
Some of her biggest hits include I am Your Woman, A Boss, Perfectly Worthless and All Falls Down. Syleena has also garnered several nominations for the Grammy Awards, MTV Music Video Awards, BET Awards and Billboard Music Video Awards among others.
She won the Best Female Vocalist at the 2005 Chicago Music Awards, with her single Hypnotic also winning her a Truth Award the same year.
Syleena this week told the Weekender of her excitement “to be coming over to Lesotho as I had never heard of the country before the booking which makes me to greatly anticipate the performance”.
“However, no audience is totally new as we are the same people throughout the world and music lovers are everywhere. One just needs to appeal to their hearts which is doable because music is a universal language.
“I will perform my popular songs as well as introduce some new material whilst also doing some cool tributes. Overall, people can expect a very energetic and soulful performance,” Syleena said.
She said the fact that she had never performed with any African artistes made her look forward to “hearing and experiencing music from the South African culture and I would love to collaborate with an artist from a different culture”.
Such is her anticipation that on Tuesday, she posted on Facebook page, “LESOTHO!!! Get your tickets!”
