{"id":785,"date":"2023-12-12T21:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T21:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghnewsbay.com\/?p=785"},"modified":"2024-05-19T10:47:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T10:47:46","slug":"zahara-south-african-music-icon-zahara-dies-aged-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghnewsbay.com\/?p=785","title":{"rendered":"Zahara: South African music icon Zahara dies aged 35"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2c2f34; font-family: Sarabun; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 30px;\">\n<div style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px auto 30px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; z-index: 2;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">Award-winning\u00a0<a style=\"background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #eea923; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asaaseradio.com\/south-african-choir-wins-at-world-championships\/\">South African<\/a>\u00a0Afro-pop singer\u00a0<a style=\"background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #eea923; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asaaseradio.com\/video-gas-leak-kills-at-least-16-in-south-african-slum\/\">Bulelwa Mkutukana,<\/a>\u00a0popularly known as Zahara, has died, the country\u2019s culture minister announced.<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">She had been in hospital, reportedly with liver complications, and the government had been assisting the family \u201cfor some time\u201d, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">The songstress won fame in 2011 with her album Loliwe, loved across Africa. In 2019, Zahara opened about up her battle with alcohol addiction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">Last month, the family confirmed she had been admitted to hospital and called on South Africans to keep the musician in their prayers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">She passed away on Monday night in a Johannesburg hospital, state-run SABC news website reports.<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">While her family is yet to release an official statement, fans have been grieving and sharing fond memories on social media.<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 6px auto; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; z-index: 2;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">\u201cZahara and her guitar made an incredible and lasting impact in South African music,\u201d Mr Kodwa posted on X (formerly Twitter).<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">\u201cShe left us with such beautiful music,\u201d one X user posted.<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 6px auto; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; z-index: 2;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">Zahara, who released five albums, won dozens of awards both local and international. In 2020, she was named in the BBC\u2019s 100 Women list.<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">The songwriter also used her platform to speak out about violence against women in South Africa, something she revealed had happened to her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">In an interview with a local radio last year, Zahara said her music was not for recognition but to bring comfort to broken souls that need healing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: none; padding: 0px;\">Source: <b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.asaaseradio.com\/\">www.asaaseradio.com<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Award-winning\u00a0South African\u00a0Afro-pop singer\u00a0Bulelwa Mkutukana,\u00a0popularly known as Zahara, has died, the country\u2019s culture minister announced. She had been in hospital, reportedly with liver complications, and the government had been assisting the family \u201cfor some time\u201d, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa said. The songstress won fame in 2011 with her album Loliwe, loved across [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,70],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-foreign","8":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Zahara: South African music icon Zahara dies aged 35 - Gh-newsbay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ghnewsbay.com\/?p=785\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zahara: South African music icon Zahara dies aged 35 - Gh-newsbay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Award-winning\u00a0South African\u00a0Afro-pop singer\u00a0Bulelwa Mkutukana,\u00a0popularly known as Zahara, has died, the country\u2019s culture minister announced. She had been in hospital, reportedly with liver complications, and the government had been assisting the family \u201cfor some time\u201d, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa said. 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