SJAVA

Johannesburg based singer Jabulani Hadebe is an award winning artist known for his hit songs like “Ekseni “and “uThando”. Jabulani, who is better known as Sjava was born and bred in a small town of “Bergville” in Kwazulu Natal.

The proudly Zulu singer is a great epitome of true artistry - having trusted his passion for the arts from childhood and actively pursuing a career within the entertainment industry. The multifaceted artist first received recognition for his acting and musical compositions when he starred in SA’s biggest soapies such as Generations, Zone 14, 7de Laan, Soul City and the controversial Gugu no Andile.

His acting skills were awarded with a SAFTA nomination in 2009. Following this achievement, Sjava’s acting career propelled to great heights as he was selected as part of the judging panel for the SAFTAs for 2 consecutive years. Sjava’s truest artistic expression is in music and over the years he has created jingles for lms and TV shows such as Kilm, Jika Majika (#1 dance show in SA) and Psalted (Gospel show on SABC2). The ingenious gentle man also created the theme song for popular SA Drama series on Mzansi Magic “iSikizi”. The theme song was produced by Ruff who is also behind the production of popular hits; Roll Up, Pearl Thusi and Washa.

On a roll, his next success came from working and being influenced by likes of Boom Shaka, Thandiswa Mazwai, Ntando, Busi Mhlongo and Jabu Khanyile. Andy Sherman from Ireland and Wikki why -T from Germany were the ones that gave him his first international break.

It wasn’t until 2016 that Sjava made the leap to the next level of his music career, he signed a record and management deal with Ambitiouz Entertainment. He immediately featured on Miss Pru’s hit singles “Ameni” and “Phumelela and DJ Citi Lyts “Vura” which all feature the Ambitiouz Entertainment artists. Sjava was a Headline Act with Miss Pru performing “Ameni” at the 16th Annual MetroFm Music Awards as well as a headline act at the Major League Gardens for two consecutive years where he performed to an attendance of over 20 thousand people. He also performed his debut single at the South African Music Awards “Ek’seni”. In 2019, Sjava was chosen to represent South Africa as a German musical platform, Colors Show where he performed his number one song, Umama.

The multi-talented musician released his debut album titled “Isina Muva” which raced up to number 1 on iTunes on just the first day of its release. It then scooped 3 nominations at the 15th annual Metro FM awards including a nomination for Best African Pop Album and ultimately won “Best Produced Album” at the 16th annual Metro FM awards. Notable songs that were taken off this album are “Ekseni”, “Uthando” and “Before” which all rose up the chartsThe album “Isina Muva” has won the award for the “Best Produced Album” on the 23rd Annual South African Music Awards. He further went on to winning the very first DStv Mzansi Viewer’s Choice Award for Rising Star. At the 25th SAMAs, Sjava was awarded best afro-pop album award and album of year award for his sophomore album, Umqhele. He was also nominated in three other categories, male Artist of the year, record of the year and best engineered album.

Sjava surprised fans with a deluxe version of the album after it reached Gold status and included three new tracks such as the smash hit “Ngempela” featuring DJ Maphorisa and Howard, “Impilo” and “December” featuring Award winning Emtee.

Sjava holds a BET International Award for Viewers’ Choice Best International Act category. He becomes the first South African artist to win this category. The EP features charting artist Saudi as well as multi-award winner Emtee to prove once again that when it comes to the art of the collaboration, Sjava is in a league of his own.

The brand new album Umqhele derives from a Zulu term meaning “Crown”, emphasizing that one’s self-perception must be that of a king or queen. The album gives you his popular hit single “Confessions” and “Umama” as his latest single. The album is an 18 track double disk and features unknown potential stars such as Buhlebendalo, Mzukulu and Anzo.