When UB40, Salif Keita and Richard Bona mount the stage at this year’s Stanbic Jazz Festival, not only will they be contending with their Ghanaian counterparts to the admiration of the crowd, but also they will have sensational South African songbird, Wanda Baloyi, to contend with.

Wanda’s appearance at this year’s festival is the beginning of a collaboration between Stanbic Bank and the organisers of the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz event in Johannesburg whereby artistes from Ghana and South Africa would be given the opportunity to perform in the counterpart country.

The 37-year old wonder, Wanda Baloyi, is a multi-talented artist who dishes out soul touching tunes, jazzy beats, house tracks and so much more. As with most great musicians, the love and passion for music in Wanda started at home as her father, Jaco Maria, is a musician too. Her father was part of a band called Loading Zone, which had the likes of Jimmy Dludlu as members at some point. As a little girl, Wanda played an integral part in the functionality of Loading Zone.

Wanda Baloyi proved her talents when she burst into the music industry as the lead singer of an all-girl group called Ghetto Luv. She left the popular all-girl group Ghetto Luv in 2001 and went on to collaborate with Thembi Seete from the group Boom Shaka on a song called Sure Ntombazana.

To date Wanda Baloyi has performed at several international festivals and she has toured the country to promote the Love & Life project. She has had the opportunity to work with and share the stage with many great musicians and bands such as Jimmy Dludlu, M Connection, The Moreira Project, Loading Zone, Hugh Masekela, Mama Miriam Makeba, Themba Mkhize, Mark Fransman, Jaco Maria and many more.

Wanda Baloyi is an exceptional musician by international standards and she will show off just a sample of her spirit when she mounts the jazz festival stage between February 28 and March 2 at the Labadi Beach Hotel and the Fantasy Dome in Accra, Ghana.

To Alhassan Andani, Chief Executive of Stanbic Bank Ghana, Jazz music with its long history in Ghana, is loved by many people in the country and the Stanbic Jazz Festival provides a platform for both local and global icons to meet and musically interact with each other

“We are a local bank with global links and we believe that getting the chance to play with legends would make for the cross fusion of ideas between our indigenous and foreign artists to make them greater acts, thereby enhancing the glocal nature of the event,” he said.

Stanbic Bank’s association with the world class talents is to buttress the point that we aim to deliver world class service. “We aim to present top-flight musicians to the people of Ghana, by bringing global legends and local icons together in keeping with the tradition of the Standard Bank Group, hosts of the annual Joy of Jazz, arguably the largest gathering of jazz lovers on the continent”, he added.