With his strong baritone voice Vido Jelashe marveled the crowd, though it had been the first time I had come across this name, I was brought to an absolute halt and even more so surprisingly we'd shared something in common. Vido Jelashe was a South African artist performing at Reggae Jam and pride filled my heart at that moment.

South African Born artist Vido Jelashe a.k.a Vuyani Mbutuma was born in Cape Town. He started his career in 1986 with the reggae band Reggae Regulars later singing for the Black Sufferers. His inspiration stem from his grandmother through music. After successfully completing his studies in Jazz he work as a singer at the Heavy Fantastics and was discovered by a German reggae band Livin' Spirits who then invited Vido to Germany, recording and album with them called "Free the Children" and then took on his own solo career in 1996 with the backing band The Growing Tree. His second album "Vido meets The Growing Tree" 1997 and later recorded "Live" in 1999.

Vido Jelashe has appeared on many compilations, to date he continues his career as the lead singer of the Dub band Tiger Hifi in Berlin.

His performance at Reggae Jam was truly amazing, for a moment I too questioned asking why I did not know of such a great artist and where he'd been before it was even brought to my attention that he was South Afrian. The audience cheered on after every song this artist sang. Incredible voice and awesome stage presence.

Great performance Vido Jelashe!

Written by: Lauren,  Photographs: Yeke, interview and videos by: Yeke & Brian

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