Taking inspiration from the #Loeries2016 theme of Creativity Unites – Tresor who composed and produced the song, says the title comes from his belief that “when creatives come together to create and collaborate, we can soar much higher.”

Given their history of pan-African collaborations, Mafikizolo were the perfect fit to perform the song. The Nhlanhla Nciza and Theo Kgosinkwe duo has previously collaborated with Nigeria’s Davido and May D as well as with Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz.

“I am a big fan of Mafikizolo and when the opportunity was presented by Universal Music Publishing Group, I jumped at it. Our genres are different, but we are all pioneers of African music with our sounds. It’s really about encouraging unity and joining forces for much bigger and better results,” said Tresor.

The melodies and lyrics were written by Tresor and produced with engineer Tyron Woods. Speaking on the process, Tresor adds “after layering some guitars, I then sent the song through to Mafikizolo. We met at Universal’s studio to assign parts and record the final song. The Zulu verse added by Theo, gives great balance and we’re really happy with how the song turned out”.

As the official music partner to the Loeries®, Universal Music facilitated the creation and recording of the official awards song. Tresor is a Universal Music Publishing (UMP) composer, and Mafikizolo are Universal Music Group (UMG) artists.

Watch Mafikizolo’s performance of Soar at the 2016 Loeries awards below: