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Joburg’s hipster haven Maboneng Precinct — where trendy street style meets contemporary art, eclectic architecture, and thrill-seeking tourists, all topped off with superb restaurants — holds a dear place in the backstory of Biko’s Manna and Mfundo.
Call it the magic kingdom of the swoon-worthy sibling musical trio, made up of Biko (17), Manna (15), and Mfundo (9) Nhlangothi. Before shooting up to TikTok superstardom and eventually landing on America’s Got Talent (AGT), the trio were street performers in Maboneng with their musician father Sebone Rangata, aka King Bzorobzarabza.
A quick Google search will tell you that all great musicians have to start somewhere: notably, Ed Sheeran and Tracy Chapman also first wowed the street crowd as buskers. The inspirational story of Biko’s Manna and Mfundo began in similar manner.
“Life really started to flourish for them in Maboneng, the place of light. It’s quite funny because they are people of light. In both families, there is a lot of good, positive light they send out,” notes their mother Ayanda Nhlangothi, a musician and actor.
The three were destined for greatness, coming from a linage of musicians that includes veteran artists Thenjiwe and Tu Nokwe, their grandparents.
“We are freelance artists ourselves; sometimes there is work and sometimes it’s dry,” says Ayanda. “So, if you have creative kids, who want to express themselves and explore, keeping them in the house is the worst thing. I’m a proud freelance artist; I would rather struggle[than] busk. But I had to learn that, during hard times, the kids were independent — they made their own money and had the freedom to express themselves.”
Rangata never thought twice about busking, although he confesses their time in Maboneng wasn’t always rosy. Yet they made great industry connections that formed the trio’s early foundation, especially in television.
“This one time we had busked since morning and there was a container for our money,” Rangata remembers with a crack in his voice. “It started to rain and someone offered to help us, but that person stole our money. That was a low moment for me — I was so angry. That money [would have] helped us to buy bread and electricity.”
Rangata says they were criticised for taking an approach of self-directed education with their children, so much so that they started to doubt their decision.
“People didn’t just accept that they were following a different direction of education. When we were busking in Maboneng, there were people telling me that I was wasting the kids’ time,” Rangata says. “Had we continued with the traditional education system, I don’t think Mzansi would be talking about these kids or that they would have ended up at AGT.”
At about the same time, Biko was given a pink guitar by Thenjiwe. Soon afterwards, guitar lessons with jazz maestro Bheki Khoza followed.
“We tried new methods of learning, where they were learning from home. There were tears,” Ayanda says. “One attempt after the other and their father figured, ‘Let’s just be led by the kids.’ At the time, the kids just wanted to play. They played a lot for a very long time — school was in the park and during long walks. That’s when they started to release a lot of the things that were making them cry, and from then that’s when history began.”
Ayanda saw that Biko was showing signs of having exceptional musical talent from as early as the age of three.
“My mom owned this rehearsal studio where bands used to come, from Caiphus Semenya to anyone you could think of. Biko had this talent, she was inspired by the music and she would sing anything,” Ayanda says. “We would listen to songs that Biko would compose on the spot; she didn’t learn to read fast, she learnt to sing fast. She was just a natural singer. When she wanted to communicate, she said it musically.”
Fast forward to 2022, when the trio self-recorded a music cover and uploaded it on Ayanda’s TikTok account. The post gained huge traction. But it was the next clip, uploaded on the trio’s newly launched account, that took the world by storm — a cover of Higher by Madison Ryann Ward. It caught the attention of Jada Pinkett Smith, Viola Davis, and other Hollywood A-listers.
“People went crazy and the thing that made them go crazy was the crazy things the little one [Mfundo] was doing. It was like, ‘This is great music, but what is happening in the back?’” Ayanda laughs. “The phone was buzzing non-stop. We were actually celebrating my mother’s birthday, she had been struggling for years with sickness that was not diagnosed. She was still in bed, but on 1 October we celebrated her birthday and the celebrations never ended because we were running around screaming that Viola Davis had just shared it. That’s what made them because the followers were so committed.”
Before long, renowned entertainment lawyer Jonathan Leonard, based in Atlanta, reached out them on social media. He helped them rebrand their social-media presence, which grew rapidly with the help of a US team.
Then came their first US tour in 2023, after Tennille Amor had invited them to perform at Festival of Nations in St. Louis, Missouri. During the tour, they travelled all over the US, meeting famous composers and producers such as Warryn Campbell (married to Erica Campbell, one half of gospel duo Mary Mary). The icing on the cake was the appearance of Biko’s Manna and Mfundo on The Jennifer Hudson Show.
“When they arrived, their fans were there — most of whom were elders. It was a scene out of Coming to America,” Ayanda says.
This year, the trio hit another career milestone as contestants on the latest season of AGT. Their SMag cover shoot at the end of August almost didn’t happen, as it clashed with their quarter-final performance filmed live in Los Angeles. But they were able to make the shoot date at the last minute after they had been eliminated, coming just short of making the top five — but they did get a standing ovation from Simon Cowell.
“One of the talent scouts eventually reached out, because so many online users were tagging them in their videos,” Ayanda says, describing how they ended up on AGT. “They were supposed to be in the last season, but that’s when they had just gone viral, so there was a lot going on. They tried for this season and that’s history now. They won every level of the competition process and eventually made it to the audition stages. Even though they were eliminated, they are so excited about each chapter.”
Next, Biko’s Manna and Mfundo plan to release new music and merchandise. Biko has fulfilled another childhood dream as a NickMusic presenter on NickToons — she even brought a TV crew to the SMag set to film an insert for the show.
