about the band

 
Photography by Neil Tandy IMAGE PHOTOGRAPHERS 079 077 4955

ARTIST PROFILE 

The crowd is skanking in unison, bouncing up and down like an irie earthquake of rhythm. The maestro with the guitar stops blowing his harmonica and leans into the microphone and shouts: 'Original Music! For Original People!' The crowd screams back in togetherness. The maestro smiles and hits them with another song.

Tidal Waves are widely regarded as the hardest working reggae band in South Africa, playing gigs from Oppikoppi to Pretoria, Cape Town to Potchefstroom and beyond. The band is made up of five very gifted musicians, the core of the group being held together by Jacob 'Zakes' Wulana on guitar, vocals, harmonica and vuvuzela and Sam 'Drumbo' Shoai on vocals and drum kit. The rest of the band is made up of Shadrack "Charlie" Mathopa is on the bass guitar; Johannes "Charlie" Papasha on keyboards, while Jaco "Mr." Mans wields the lead guitar.

Singer, multi-instrumentalist, and group founder Jacob "Jakes" Wulana, along with fellow founder and drummer Sam "Drumbo" Shoai, hails from the western dustbowl mining town of Klerksdorp (the rest of the band came together in Yeoville, Johannesburg). Growing up in the township, Wulana and Shoai were surrounded by a range of languages, cultures, musics-Zulu, Xhosa, Setswana, Tshivenda, Afrikaans-as well as by the music of Bob Marley, Sly and Robbie, and Curtis Mayfield.

Tidal Waves | Newsletter December 2011

"Tidal Waves wishing you happy holidays!"

Heita Hola! This year has flown by at a bizarre speed. And so we find ourselves on the brink of December, the start of summer and most importantly - time for us all to relax and enjoy good times with good people and good music! Thank you so much for an amazing year, we really can't thank all those who have supported us enough! We have some great shows lined up for December and we hope to see you there! All the details are below.

Tidal Waves has become a household name in the South African music industry and 12 years down the line, we find ourselves immensely blessed to be able to make a living from what we love most - music, and of course the message behind the music. However Tidal Waves would never have been able to get this far without the constant support of all our fans, and for this we would like to offer our heartfelt thanks - all of this would not have been possible without you. It has been an incredible journey from learning to play instruments as youngsters in the townships, to realizing what could become possible through our music, to headlining some of the most prestigious festivals and events nationwide and abroad. It has been an incredibly humbling experience to see our dreams materialize and grow. While you know that we know hard work never hurt, it is your support that has been a key element in helping us to persist in our life long goal of taking Original Music for Original People to all those who need to be uplifted, all the beautiful people that need to hear our message. We hope that through our music we have been able to make a positive change in people's lives and contributed to the message of Unity we believe so strongly in.

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