14/51 Welcome Msomi

Airing December 23rd-30th on Inspiring South Africans with Heather de Wit and her guest Welcome Msomi

Welcome Msomi is a gentle giant in the Arts and Communications industries, who had a very special connection to Nelson Mandela and continues to keep Madiba’s spirit alive ! Find out in this show what prompted him to return to live in South Africa from New York.

WELCOME MSOMI, his wife GUGU and MANDELA

He started writing at the age of 15 and his name has become synonymous with Zulu literature as an accomplished author.

A multi-faceted man in the Arts arena, who has won numerous awards, Welcome has won international acclaim as a playwright, actor, choreographer and director.

Welcome’s significant success was UMABATHA, a Zulu adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which was hailed as the only cultural classic to come from South Africa. For some 30 years UMABATHA was performed in many parts of the world, including the UK, Italy, Israel, Canada and all the major cities in the USA.

Besides writing for the stage, Welcome Msomi has written and acted in radio plays, hosted his own radio show; composed and produced songs for all his musicals. He also created music and movement for TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT, a Royal Shakespeare Company production and was subsequently nominated for Sir Lawrence Olivier Award for Choreography.

Welcome Msomi has a leading reputation in the creation of value networks and leading business concepts. His products have become towering examples of partnership, innovation and outsourcing in the communications industry of South Africa.

Having the innate ability of bringing specialists together to stage global events of enormous proportions, he successfully conceived and directed the 1994 Nelson Mandela Inauguration in just 18 days, without even knowing who the next President was going to be !

He was also involved with Nelson Mandela’s 75th, 77th, 78th, 80th and 88th and 90th birthday celebrations.

Paying tribute to Nelson Mandela, Welcome formed a partnership with Michael Hankinson to create a musical narrative ‘The Mandela Portrait’ and more recently staged ‘Footsteps of Mandela’ a musical in New York.