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Born Tsietsi Daniel Motijoane in Lesotho in 1955, Nana Coyote, grew up in the dusty streets of Sharpeville. While at Makabelane high school in Qwaqwa, he started his musical career by forming a band with schoolmates.
He later joined the group “The Black Five" in Sharpeville, and for 10 years they performed around the country.
He is affectionately known as “Nana Coyote" for his vocal abilities to comfortably sing in falsetto and in a deep growling voice. When he performs in his electrifying growling voice, his fans refer to him as “The wild dog"
In 1980, at the height of political unrest as resistance against the unjust laws of apartheid intensified, Nana went into exile in Lesotho where he joined the group “Uhuru" (now “Sankomota". He returned to rejoin “The Black Five" for a spell and then, in 1984, headed for Johannesburg seeking to further his professional music career.
Instrumentation:
vocals
Genre:
African Jazz, soul
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Coyote’s big break came when a group “Ozila" asked him to feature as a lead vocalist in one of their songs "I'm suffering" which became a hit. Soon afterwards Lloyd Lelosa asked him feature in a duet with Steve Kekana on one of the latter’s songs "Take your love". This song became a huge hit and is still considered one of the South African all time classics.
With his vocal abilities well known, it did not come as a surprise that Ray Phiri leader of the group then hugely successful group “Stimela" of which Lloyd Lelosa was also a member, asked Nana Coyote to feature in one of Stimela’s songs “Whisper in the deep (Phinda Mzala)" This song went straight to the top of the charts, becoming another one of the South African all time classics in which Nana Coyote lends his soulful voice. In the early 90's, after Ray Phiri went on a world tour with Paul Simon, Coyote was asked by Stimela to be the lead singer of the group. They recorded a number of albums before disbanding later in that decade.
Coyote continued to lend his voice as a featured musician on a number of musical projects and appeared on stage with a number of groups including his previous band, “Sankomota" In Dec 2001 he met up with his long time friend Steve Kekana in Bloemfontein. Coyote was touring with “Sankomota" and Steve with Joe Nina. Coyote joined Steve Kekana on stage to perform their classic duet “Take your love" To say the performance was electrifying would be an understatement. This lead to Joe Nina asking Coyote to join him and Steve Kekana on his live performances. This has since lead to a string of highly charged live performance around the country.
With a foundation having being laid, in June 2002, Coyote asked Joe Nina to produce his album, to which the young maverick producer agreed. Coyote was signed to Kisanji Entertainment, Joe Nina’s record label. Nana Coyote’s first solo album under the Kisanji label, titled “Majaja" was released in August 2003.
This Biography courtesy Sheer Sound
Contact Details:
Kisanji Entertainment - +27 11 440 5940 (tel) + 318 2933 (fax)
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Recordings : Coyote, Nana
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2003
Majaja
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click here for more about these and other recordings by : Coyote, Nana
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