As tough as it is trying to make it in the music industry, it takes so much more courage attempting to find a breakthrough in a foreign country, to an unknown audience and in a new language.
CAPE TOWN, July 27 (ANA) – As tough as it is trying to make it in the music industry, it takes so much more courage attempting to find a breakthrough in a foreign country, to an unknown audience and in a new language.
This is exactly what 27-year-old South African-born singer and songwriter Eli Zaelo has done. Zaelo took up the challenge, crushed it and became a household name in Hong Kong, with performances in jazz, blues and R&B in venues across the city.
Earlier this year, she released her first R&B Mandarin single titled “Aiqing Gushi” (Stories About Love), followed by an English single titled “Human”.
In a blend of R&B, house, reggae and African instrumental, Zaelo is looking to make the most of China’s rapidly growing digital music industry, which surged with the pandemic as demand grew for home-grown talent.
“I’m just studying the (Mandopop) greats and seeing how they did it… Hopefully, I can follow in their footsteps,” Zaelo said in an interview with CNN.
“I’m hoping it (her singles) will open up the doors to other people who have thought about doing it, and maybe it will spark something in them,” she said.
Zaelo’s journey started as a drama student at Pro Arte Alphen Park in Pretoria before she moved to California in the United States at the age of 19.
In the States she underwent an 18-month music programme at the Los Angeles College of Music, where she attended seminars by music icons such as Black Eyed Peas and Damian Marley.
According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), she moved to Hong Kong for a role in Hong Kong Disneyland’s “Lion King” musical in 2015, where she spent the next one and a half years.
“After Disney I went back home to South Africa and got a tutor from Taiwan… I wanted to sing in Mandarin,” said Zaelo.
She also teaches African dance, which she says allows her to introduce her culture and “bridge Africa and Asia”.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
