Mzansi comedian Kagiso Lediga joked that he may be on the soundtrack for the new Lion King prequel Mufasa, but he is not expecting any Grammy Awards anytime soon.
The South African actor, comedian, filmmaker and writer is a voice actor in Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King as the young Rafiki.
Kagiso not only masters the voice of the iconic character Rafiki, but also masters singing, something he didn’t think he could do after years of being told he couldn’t hold a note.
The Pure Monate Show funnyman lends his voice to We Go Together alongside Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Tiffany Boone and Preston Nyman.
To do the song written by musical legends Lebo M and Lin-Manuel Miranda justice, Kagiso says he turned to one of SA’s best vocal trainers, RJ Benjamin.
Benjamin has worked with local hitmakers like Danny K, Karin Kortje, Vicky Sampson and Kagiso says he was put to work.
Kagiso recorded most of his vocals for the Disney blockbuster in Johannesburg, saying: “I’d wake up and they say call time is 4pm, some days I would go and be there till midnight, some 30 minutes just to do grunts.”
The actor had been working on the project since 2021, until four or five months ago this year.
When it came to building the character of the young Rafiki, Kagiso was inspired by the previous two versions in 1994 and 2019 movies.
Lediga says: “I grew up on the original Rafiki, I went to the cinema to watch that movie in 1994 and that Rafiki is like etched into my brain.”