Mbongeni Ngema Biography, Age, Wife, Sarafina, Songs, Movies, Album

Mbongeni Ngema Biography

Mbongeni Ngema is a South African writer, lyricist, composer, director and theatre producer. He is best known for co-writing the multi-award winning Woza Albert!

Mbongeni Ngema Career

In the late 1970s he began acting in local theatre groups. In 1981 together with actor Percy Mtwa he wrote the satirical play Woza Albert!, which imagines that the second coming of Jesus Christ takes place in South Africa.

In 1983 he wrote the musical Asinamali!, which deals with police violence, forced separations from families, and constricting racist laws as experienced by five prisoners.

In 1987 he wrote and produced the musical Sarafina! The title character is a black teenager who at first wants to become a superstar. Instead, inspired by a teacher, she becomes a revolutionary in the 1976 student uprisings in Soweto.

In 1990 he wrote the musical Township Fever which was inspired by a violent strike by South African railway workers.

In 1995 he wrote Mama! The Musical of Freedom which was inspired by the election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa in 1994.

Mbongeni Ngema Age

He was born on May 10, 1955 in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He is 63 years old as of 2018.

Mbongeni Ngema

Mbongeni Ngema Family | Mbongeni Ngema Wife

He married Leleti Khumalo a South African actress in 1992 until their divorce in 2005. After the couple divorced Leleti Khumalo spoke to Nicky Greenwall in 2014 on e.tv’s The Close Up about that marriage to Mbongeni and described it as “disgusting”.

Mbongeni Ngema Sarafina

Sarafina (Leleti Khumalo) is a young black South African struggling for freedom during the apartheid. While she has remained relatively silent in her opposition of the racist government in her country, the movement to make the language of Afrikaans the official language in her school leads her to protest in the streets with her fellow students. Her anti-government views become even more intense when her favorite teacher (Whoopi Goldberg) is arrested for protesting.

Release date: September 18, 1992 (USA)
Director: Darrell Roodt
Story by: Mbongeni
Screenplay: Mbongeni , William Nicholson

Mbongeni Ngema Movies

  • Sarafina! (1992)
  • The Lion King (1994)
  • The House of Shaka (2005)

Mbongeni Ngema Songs

  • Lizobuya
  • S’timela Sase-Zola
  • The Lord’s Prayer
  • One Blood featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo
  • Coming Tomorrow
  • Stimela Sase Zola
  • One Blood
  • Laduma
  • Rolihlahla Mandela
  • Stimela SaseZola
  • Ngobamakhosi
  • Afrika
  • Woza My Fohloza
  • Simelane
  • Sarafina!
  • Safa Saphel’ Isizwe
  • Melody Maker
  • Woza My-Fohloza
  • Give Us Power
  • Madlokovu
  • My Baby
  • Sabela
  • Nkonyane Kandaba
  • Beautiful Mama’s
  • Sarafina
  • Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow
  • Rolihlahla Mandela (Taken from Mbongeni Ngema
  • Vuma Dlozi Lami
  • Imbongolo
  • Siwiliwili
  • Mafufunyane
  • Sechaba
  • Umagumede
  • Bhulukwe Lokuswenka
  • Brrr…
  • Thina Sizwe
  • Libuyile
  • Magic At 4am
  • Molebogeng (A Woman in My Dreams)
  • Ali Bomaye
  • Melody Maker (Madlokovu)
  • Melody Of Freedom
  • Imnandi Leyondaba
  • Freedom Is Coming
  • African Solution
  • Wowongalelane
  • Magic
  • S’timela Sase-Zola – Mbongeni Ngema
  • Thank You Mama
  • Time To Unite

Mbongeni Ngema Albums

  • Lion Of The East…A Musical Explosion! – 2011
  • Magic at 4 A.M – 1993
  • Woza My-Fohloza – 1997
  • Simuka Na Ndwendwe – 2001
  • Laduma – 1994
  • Mbongeni Ngema and the Baobab Sisters – 2015
  • Forever My Music – 2011
  • The Very Best Of – 2011
  • Greatest Moments Of – 2015
  • Revolutionized – 2009
  • From Africa to Afrika! – 2014
  • Remembering Nelson Mandela – 2014
  • African Kings – 2014
  • Township Fever – 2018

Mbongeni Ngema Awards, Nomintions and Honours

  • 1987 Tony Award – Asinamali! nominated for Best Direction of a Play
  • 1988 Tony Award – Sarafina! received five nominations: Best Choreography, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Actress in a Musical.
  • 1988 Grammy Award – Sarafina! nominated for a Grammy Award
  • 1988 NAACP Image Awards – Sarafina! the musical won 11 NAACP Image Awards in several categories
  • Grammy Award – The Lion King, Disney Animated Film, for vocal arrangements
  • 1998 – inducted in the New York “Walk of Fame” in front of the Lucille Lortel Theatre in Manhattan, New York City
  • 2001 – Dr. Ngema’s name engraved on City Hall Entrance in Durban
  • In 2004 he was voted 92nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans.
  • 2008 Living Legend Award from the Ethekwini Municipality, Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal
  • Honorary Doctorate conferred by the Good Shepherd College
  • 2013 – Lifetime Achievement Award at Simon Mabhunu Sabela Film Awards
  • 2013 – Inaugural Recognition Award at SAMRO’s Wawela Awards

Mbongeni Ngema Facebook

Mbongeni Ngema Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj-XW7KgJPX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Mbongeni Ngema The Lord’s Prayer

 

You May Also Like

Laurence Fishburne’s Net Worth, Biography, Career, Awards, Fact and Life Story

splits: 17What is Laurence Fishburne’s net worth?Laurence Fishburne is an actor, screenwriter, and producer, best known for playing strong and authoritative characters. Laurence Fishburne has a net worth of $30 million. Among his most famous roles are Morpheus in the “Matrix” trilogy, Jason Styles in “Boyz n the Hood,” and Ike Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” Fishburne’s other credits include the movies “Apocalypse Now,” “Mystic River,” and “Akeelah and the Bee,” and the television shows “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “Black-ish.”Salary HighlightsThe Matrix Salaries: Laurence earned a nominal amount of money for appearing the first “Matrix” movie. He then earned $15 million for the second and third installments PLUS 3.75% of the backend which brought his total earnings for those two films up to the roughly $40 million range.CSI: At his peak of appearing on CSI, he earned $350,000 per episode, roughly $8 million per season.Hannibal: For his work on the show Hannibal he earned $175,000 over 36 episodes, which works out to around $6.3 million.Black-Ish: He earns $200,000 per episode of Black-ish as both a star an executive producer.Early Life and Career BeginningsLaurence Fishburne was born in 1961 in Augusta, Georgia to Hattie, a junior high school math and science teacher, and Laurence Jr., a juvenile corrections officer. Following his parents’ divorce, he moved with his mother to Brooklyn, New York. As a youth, Fishburne went to the former Lincoln Square Academy.Fishburne began his first acting role in 1973, playing the character of Joshua Hall on the ABC soap opera “One Life to Live.” A couple of years later, he made his feature film debut in the coming-of-age drama “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” in which he played a young boy who witnesses the police shooting of a high school basketball star. Later, in 1979, Fishburne had a supporting role in the Vietnam War film “Apocalypse Now,” playing Tyrone Miller. Although he began shooting the film when he was only 14, filming took so long that Fishburne was 17 upon its completion.Film Career in the 80sIn the early 80s, Fishburne appeared in the dramedy “Willie & Phil,” the action film sequel “Death Wish II,” and two dramas directed by Francis Ford Coppola: “Rumble Fish” and the historical crime film “The Cotton Club.” Following a bit part in Steven Spielberg’s “The Color Purple” in 1985, he starred in the drama “Quicksilver” and the action crime thriller “Band of the Hand.” Subsequently, Fishburne was in “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors,” “Gardens of Stone,” and “Cherry 2000,” all from 1987. The actor closed out the decade with roles in “Red Heat,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Belushi, and Spike Lee’s “School Daze,” in which he had a starring role opposite Giancarlo Esposito and Tisha Campbell.Film Career in the 90sFishburne kicked off the 90s with Abel Ferrara’s controversial crime thriller “King of New York,” costarring Christopher Walken, Wesley Snipes, and David Caruso. He was then in the prison film “Cadence” and the legal drama “Class Action.” One of Fishburne’s most famous roles came in 1991, when he starred as Jason “Furious” Styles in John Singleton’s coming-of-age drama “Boyz n the Hood.” Costarring Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, and Regina King, among others, the film was a huge success, grossing nearly $60 million and earning two Academy Award nominations. After starring in “Deep Cover” in 1992, Fishburne had another critical hit with 1993’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It.” In the film, he portrayed Ike Turner opposite Angela Bassett, who played Tina; both Fishburne and Bassett received Academy Award nominations for their performances. Following this, Fishburne was in such films as “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” “Higher Learning,” “Bad Company,” “Just Cause,” and “Othello,” in which he played the titular role.Among Fishburne’s credits in the latter half of the 90s are “Event Horizon,” “Hoodlum,” and “Welcome to Hollywood.” The actor closed out the decade with his most famous role, playing the hacker-mentor Morpheus in the science-fiction film “The Matrix.”Film Career in the 2000s and BeyondIn the early 2000s, Fishburne lent his voice to the animated children’s film “Osmosis Jones,” and reprised his role as Morpheus in two sequels to “The Matrix,” both released in 2003. Other credits around this time included “Mystic River,” “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” “Assault on Precinct 13,” “Akeelah and the Bee,” “Bobby,” and “Five Fingers.” Later in the decade, Fishburne was in films including “21,” “Armored,” and “Black Water Transit.”Fishburne’s credits in the 2010s include “Contagion,” “Ride Along,” “Rudderless,” “Passengers,” “Last Flag Flying,” and “The Mule.” He also appeared in a few superhero films, including “Man of Steel,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” Additionally, Fishburne played the role of ‘The Bowery King’ in the action sequels “John Wick: Chapter 2” and “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.”Television CareerFollowing his debut on “One Life to Live,” Fishburne appeared on television in episodes of “Trapper John, M.D.,” “M*A*S*H,” “Strike Force,” “Hill Street Blues,” and “Miami Vice.” He was also in the television films “A Rumor of War” and “For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story,” and appeared in 17 episodes of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.” In the 90s, Fishburne was in more television films, including “Decoration Day,” “The Tuskegee Airmen,” “Miss Evers’ Boys,” and “Always Outnumbered,” the latter two of which he produced.In 2008, Fishburne began his biggest television role yet when he joined the cast of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” For 60 episodes he played Dr. Raymond Langston, a college professor and former pathologist. Fishburne had another major role starting in 2013, playing Jack Crawford on NBC’s “Hannibal.” In 2014, he began playing Earl Johnson on the ABC sitcom “Black-ish.”Theatrical CareerBeyond the screen, Fishburne has had an accomplished career on stage. His early credits include “Eden,” “Short Eyes,” “Urban Blight,” and “Loose Ends.” In 1992, he won a Tony Award for his performance in the August Wilson play “Two Trains Running.” Later, he was in productions of “Riff Raff,” “The Lion in Winter,” and another August Wilson play, “Fences.” In 2008, Fishburne starred in the Broadway production of “Thurgood,” and received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show.Personal LifeIn 1985 Fishburne married Hajna O. Moss but divorced sometime in the 1990s. They have two children, a daughter and a son. Their son, Langston, was born in 1987 and their daughter, Montana in 1991. He married actress Gina Torres in 2002 and they have a girl, Delilah, born in June of 2007. They split their time between Los Angeles and New York City. Gina and Laurence divorced in 2018 after separating a year earlier.At the Cultural Rhthyms annual show, he was awarded the Harvard Foundations Artist of the Year Award. He was also given the key to the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Mayor Kenneth Reeves, honoring his abilities as an actor, an entertainer and for being a great humanitarian. In the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 24th has been declared “Laurence Fishburne Day.”
Read More