“Multiculturalism” is definitely a key word when referring to the music band Freshlyground. Members of the band include:

Zolani Mahola – The agile lady is the versatile lead vocalist from a small town in the Eastern Cape who also plays the acoustic guitar. She studied drama at the University of Cape Town where she met Aron, another member of the ensemble. Her distinctive talent in blending both English and Zhosa languages in her lyrics makes Freshlyground music a listening and dancing pleasure.                                                                                                                                             Josh Hawks – The bass guitarist and vocalist from Cape Town gives some depth and spicy flavour to the vivacious music of the group.
Aron Turest-Swartz – The man from Karoo in the dessert area surrounding Cape Town , is keyboarder, vocalist and a talented percussionist. He studied film and drama at the University of Cape Town .
Kyla-Rose Smith – The second lady in the group is from Johannesburg and plays the violin. She studied jazz at the University of cape Town
Simon Attwell – Relocated from his country Zimbabwe to Cape Town to study English at the University of Cape Town. He mixes flute, mbira and harmonica into music of the group.
Julio Sigauque (Gugs) – the man from Maputo , Mozambique plays the electric guitar, acoustic guitar and saxophone. He studied technical drawing and later moved to Cape Town to study music/Jazz Guitar.
Peter Cohen – The man drums is from Cape Town

The different cultural and music backgrounds of the group reflect in the resulting compositions with elements of jazz, blues, pop and traditional African folklore. In an interview, the band acknowledged that Zolani usually writes the initial lyrics. Other members of the band would then contribute their ideas. Through discussions, modifications, disagreements and agreements several compositions are selected and rehearsed. Some of the compositions are later discarded, while others are selected for final release. The band is open to integrating elements of different types of music into its compositions and does not want to be categorized. The band’s album “Nomvula” received four times platinum and Freshlyground won the “Best African Act Award” at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards. At the Africa Festival in Wuerzburg, on the 27^th May 2007 , the band gave an energetic performance that made the audience scream for more.