A very proud moment for South Africa, and Africa as a whole as KZN-born artists Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode, alongside Grammy award-winning musician Wouter Kellerman, took home their Grammy awards for Best Global Music Performance award, for Bayethe!
The 65th Grammy Awards took place on Sunday February 5 at the Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles in the United States. Hosted by South Africa's very own former Daily Show host and comedian Trevor Noah, the ceremony saw SA winning once again with Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman winning an award.
During their acceptance speeches, Wouter thanked the Grammy's for the huge nod and said it was a beautiful moment.
"Thank you so much. This is such a beautiful moment on the road to sharing South African music and culture with the world," he said.
Zakes Bantwini also took the mic and said, "I just want to say, we are coming from Africa, South Africa. And this moment right here to anybody who's in Africa just proves and affirms that every dream is valid."
Nomcebo Zikode sang a snippet of her massive hit Jerusalema and went on to thank the people involved in the success of Bayethe.
Taking to Twitter, Zakes retweeted their massive win and said God is number 1!
"Unkulunkulu uNumber 1," Zakes Bantwini tweeted.
Wouter also tweeted about their win, "We won the Grammy for the Best Global Music Performance for our song 'Bayethe' Thanks so much to everybody for all the support - this is for the whole of South Africa! Awesomeness."
In an exclusive interview with ZAlebs, Zakes Bantwini remained hopeful that they will win the award, "I heard the news while I was out at a restaurant having dinner with friends. I was so happy and called everybody to share this moment with me. I made so much noise, and I am sure some of the customers in that restaurant thought I was crazy but, I was excited that I am nominated at the Grammy's. This is the biggest accolade I could ever get," he says.
He gave his fellow nominees a shoutout, "It means everything to me, shout out to Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter. It means I am in a good direction with my music career and I am dope," he added.
"I try by all means to never expect anything when it comes to the awards in SA because I have never had a good experience or luck with them. I feel like I have been snubbed so many times in SA, so awards are some of the things that I don't look forward to. If you had asked me before, I would have told you that was expecting a nomination from the MTV EMAs, BET Awards and so many awards. So, the Grammy was one of those things that I doubted but shout out to Nomcebo and Wouter who worked hard on this record. It's a collaborated effort and all credit needs to be given to everybody," he said.
