Tatenda Mandaza (born 10 September 1992), known professionally as Tendaness, is a Swazi-born record producer, DJ and songwriter.

Early life and career

Tatenda Mandaza was born in

Mbabane Mbabane () is the most populous city in Eswatini (previously called Swaziland), and is one of the two Capital (political), capitals (along with Lobamba), serving as the Executive (government), executive capital. It has an estimated population of ...

, the capital city of

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

. His mother is Swati and his father is Zimbabwean. He began his music career in 2007–2008 in his bedroom after having picked up an interest in the art from a friend in high school. He got his stage name 'Tendaness' from his friend who taught him how to use turntables in 2008. He mastered the process of music production and established his record label, Tendamix Records in 2011. Tendaness has won two national "DJ of the Year" awards in Eswatini (2010–2011 and 2011/2012) and won first place in the Sprite DJ Champion 2011. In August 2012, Tendaness moved to the United States to attend the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

. He studied Advertising with a minor in Film and Media Studies for four years while still making music. Tendaness released his first EP ''Play'' on 23 August 2012 under UK based indie label Crossborder Records. He has released many more singles, EPs and official remixes to date. He released a major single "''Overload''" in 2013. The single featured former Cashtime member Smashis (now Zingah) and rapper Kid Nice. The track was released during his time as Coca-Cola Swaziland Ambassador, as part of the Crazy For Good Campaign. The song gained major airplay in Swaziland and South Africa and had the first ever Swazi music video to be aired on major music channels like MTV Base and

Channel O Channel O is a South Africa–based music channel that started transmission in 1997. Its main concept is African music in Africa and the diaspora. Channel O can be accessed via DStv, a satellite pay TV service for pan-African households. The ch ...

. On 3 March 2016, he released his debut LP "Grande" featuring a roster of upcoming artist from Swaziland and around Africa.

Career

On 24 March 2017 he released the debut single from his debut album "Tendanes" titled "Jika ft. Bholoja & LO. The song was play-listed radio by stations in many countries in Africa and beyond. He is signed to his own label Tendamix. Tendamix is Mandaza's own label. Jika reached number 1 on the Apple Music Top 100 Charts for Swaziland, reached Number 1 on the SBIS 2 Top 100 songs of 2017, Number 2 on the Y Urban Top 40 Chart and Number 29 on the #YTop100 songs on 2017 Charts on

YFM YFM (99.2 FM) is a "Youth" radio station in Johannesburg, South Africa. Established in 1997, the station is formatted to mostly play urban music genres such as Kwaito, Hip Hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular m ...

in South Africa (where the song was placed on heavy rotation), Number 2 on the DJ Edu DNA Top 5 Chart on

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

and number 4 on the Afro Turn Up Charts on

PBS 106.7FM PBS 106.7FM (call sign: 3PBS''), also known as the Progressive Broadcasting Service, is a cooperatively owned community radio station in Melbourne, Australia, that broadcasts on 106.7FM, Digital radio, and online. PBS celebrated its 40th year of ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The music video for "Jika" was later released on 22 June 2018.

Discography

LPs

Official Remixes

Extended plays

Singles

Studio albums

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*Tendanes
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tendaness 1992 births Living people Swazi musicians South African DJs Music of Southern Africa Electronic dance music DJs