In celebration of his landmark Grammys nomination for “Bayethe” (his recent collaboration with Wouter Kellerman and Nomcebo Zikode), Zakes Bantwini threw an exclusive invite-only party at Sandton’s stylish nightspot, Zioux.
In attendance were some of the biggest A-listers in Mzansi, including the likes of media personalities Boity Thulo, Tbo Touch and Somizi Mhlongo, singer Cici, 947 radio personality Msizi James, rapper Da LES and designer Thebe Magugu.
The theme for the evening was black tie and everyone seemed to wear their finest as invited guests poured in wearing fitted suits and stunning evening dresses.
“What a special celebration for a once-in-lifetime achievement,” noted Sibo Mhlungu, Bantwini’s manager and business partner. “It’s not every day we get to celebrate a nomination at the most vaunted awards ceremony in the world.
“Whatever the outcome, we are super proud of the year we’ve had. Thank you to our incredible partners and our hard-working team.”
On the day of the celebration, IOL Entertainment reported that Zikode was set to take Open Mic Productions to court following the label’s allegedly unlawful take-down of “Bayethe” from streamer Spotify.
Leaked court documents shared with IOL indicated that this take-down was the result of Open Mic, through its attorneys MM, writing to Spotify that the recording infringes on its intellectual property.
Zikode refuted this claim, stating: “As a result of the recording being removed from Spotify, and potentially from other platforms of which I am unaware, the second applicant and I have suffered and stand to suffer further harm, the extent of which will be difficult, if not impossible, to quantify.
“Furthermore, I have a reasonable apprehension that the take-down request, along with other take-down requests of which I am unaware, or which the respondent may still issue, may have a bearing on the Grammy for which I have been nominated.”
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