When Tokollo “Magesh” Tshabalala was born into a famous footballing family on 14 October, 1976, no one could have imagined he’d go on to become the centrepiece of perhaps the most important South African group of the late 1990s, TKZee.
While many might have expected Magesh to follow in his father’s footsteps, he instead chose a path of his own after befriending Kabelo Mabalane and Zwai Bala at St Stithians College in Johannesburg. They teamed up to form the kwaito group TKZee. After a few years off the scene as kwaito’s popularity faded, TKZee were in the midst of a late-career comeback over the past year or two and had been a fixture at the popular Soweto establishment Konka. I was there in September when the group headlined a show and took a delirious crowd on a trip down memory lane with a nostalgic performance of their classic hits.
While Magesh no doubt held his own as a solo artist with several solo releases, it’s his time with TKZee that we’ll remember most fondly.