Boom Shaka honoured with Freedom Legacy Award

When Boom Shaka first entered the music scene back in 1993, they produced 'It's about time', when South Africa was on the cusp of a shift, both politically and culturally.

As apartheid fell and democracy dawned, the quartet, inclusive of Themi Seete, Lebo Mathosa, Theo Nhlengethwa and Junior Sokhela emerged with a sound that was unapologetically local, youth-driven and arguably revolutionary. This was kwaito and Boom Shaka was its voice.

The song 'It's about time' was not just a call to party, it was a call to exist freely, to dance without restriction, to reclaim space as Black South Africans.

And now more than 30 years later, that voice still echoes, not only in South Africa’s music scene but in its fashion, language and spirit and for that, at this year’s 2025 Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival held at Constitutional Hill, Boom Shaka was honoured with the Freedom Legacy Award, rightly fitted for a group that not only made music, but made history.

Seete said, "It was a really special time, we created this music when we gained our freedom and ultimately democracy in 1994. I am really proud of the songs we were able to make, expressing ourselves through the music and the importance the messaging carried"

Basha Uhuru is deeply rooted in the ideas of youth expression, creative freedom, and the legacy of struggle, so honoring Boom Shaka at such a festival is not only appropriate, it's symbolically perfect.

However, at its inception, Boom Shaka didn’t set out to become one of the cultural icons. As Nhlengethwa puts it, “We were just young kids at school, experimenting with sound, music and dance, but what we created then became a movement”. Their music became a soundtrack for South Africa’s youth navigating newfound freedom, identity, and the complexities of a post-apartheid world.

“We didn’t know that we were going to create something this big until today, 31 years later, we're very grateful. People are still singing our songs young, old, even toddlers. It’s amazing,” Nhlengethwa says.

Seete alsonotes that beyond the music, Boom Shaka shaped culture through fashion, she says, “We were the trendsetters wearing baggy jeans, cropped tops, Dr. Martens, and wearing up the thick box braids, also known as Boom Shaka braids.”

Indeed, Boom Shaka popularized youth slang, bold fashion and gender expression, especially with the now late Lebo Mathosa who became a symbol of sexual freedom expression and empowerment for young women.

Mathosa was often criticized for her revealing outfits and energetic dance moves, but in hindsight, many now see her as a trailblazer for body autonomy in South African pop culture, with examples of artists like DJ Waffles, Kamo Mphela and Moonchild Salley among others.

Nthlegethwa says in all the years the key to their success has been: “Being true to ourselves. Being South African. Expressing ourselves through music. We were free, free from being oppressed and we were telling people that through our music.”

Constitution Hill’s marketing coordinator, Rethabile Maifadi, add that the group really embodies the theme of ‘elebrating the legacy of freedom of expression’.

Maifadi said: "This is also a right that was violated, and today, it is part of the Bill of Rights in our Constitution. Basha Uhuru was founded in 2012 to immortalise the memory of the youth who fought for their right to choose in the Soweto 1976 Uprising, affording youth of today the freedom to explore their creativity and freedom of expression – This is what we want the youth and everyone to remember and know they have the power to exercise their freedom of expression and make an impact.”