Mbongeni Ngema

Mbongeni Ngema (born May 10, 1955) a South African writer, lyricist, composer and director was born in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal (near Durban). He started his career as a theatre backing guitarist.

He is married to actress Leleti Khumalo. Leleti who received a 1988 Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for Sarafina!; as well as starring as the leading role in South Africa's first Oscar-nominated film/move, Yesterday.

He co-wrote the multi-award winning Woza Albert!.^[1] In some sectors of South African society, Ngema is considered a racist because of his controversial song, AmaNdiya (about racism that Blacks in KwaZulu-Natal have suffered at the hands of Indians). It was banned in the country soon after it was released in 2002, and even Nelson Mandela had asked Ngema to apologize but Ngema refused.

Featuring

Mbongeni Ngema has participated in a song called Take this song, recorded in featuring with the Reggae band Third World.

Productions

• Asinamali (1987)
• Sarafina! (1988)
• Magic at 4 AM (1993)
• Circle Of Life (African voices) (1995)
• Mama (1996)
• Sarafina! 2 (1997)
• Nikeziwe (2005)
• The House of Shaka (2006)
• Lion of the East (2009)
• Take this song in collaboration with the Reggae Band Third World

Honors and awards

• 1987 Tony Award - Asinamali! was nominated for Best Direction of a Play
• 1988 Tony Award - Sarafina! was nominated 3 times for Best Choreography, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Original Score
• In 2004 he was voted 92nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans.

References

1. ^ Poet, J.. "Biography: Mbongeni Ngema". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p103233/biography. Retrieved 30 May 2010. 

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Name	Ngema, Mbongeni
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Date of birth	10 May 1955
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