Viral TikTok singing group Biko'sManna is ready to put out original music

Along with her brothers, BikoStar has been singing forever but started writing and composing music when she was five years old.

BikoStar and her two brothers, Manna Hero and Mfundo aka Tau Lion, make up the South African singing trio Biko’sManna. They all sing, but she is the lead singer. Manna Hero plays the guitar and Tau Lion, the youngest brings the dance moves.

Earlier this year, their videos, covers of everything from the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman to Victor Thompson’s This Year, went viral.

In June they received a standing ovation from the judges of America’s Got Talent after they performed the 1988 hit by Bobby McFerrin, Don't Worry, Be Happy. It was the show’s scouts who reached out to them in South Africa and invited them to the US for the performance.

They have dropped by The Jenifer Hudson Show where they also sang with her, nominated for Fav African Kidfluncer at the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. BikoStar herself has been invited to join the Nickelodeon Culture Squad as a host on NickMusic.

“Life has been amazing, honestly,” she told Pulse Nigeria in an interview. “We've been receiving so much love here in South Africa. It's so humbling to see our people here in South Africa, proud of us and just like motivating us for raising the South African flag high in America.”

Along with her brothers, BikoStar has been singing forever but started writing and composing music when she was five years old. Her parents, Sebone Rangata the father and Ayanda Nhlangothi the mother, are both local musicians.

“I've always loved music because, you know, I was surrounded by a family of musicians,” she said.

But it was in her grandmother’s house, where she rents out a room for rehearsals, that she decided to do this full time after she was swooned by a band that used the space.

“I always had that excitement when I asked the band to play anything and they would just play a song and then I would compose and sing,” she said.

BikoStar has been home-schooled since she was in primary two. Her daily life is regimented between five cycles; personal care, skills improvement, mind stimulation, project follow-ups and family and home. During these cycles, she learns everything from school work to personal hygiene and also creates time for meditation.

Since she was seven, she has had a music coach help her get better with her singing. It was the music coach who moved Biko’sManna towards the guitar and advised them to start singing on the streets of Maboneng, a creative hub in Johannesburg.

“I really never expected that presenting would be my career,” she said of the NickMusic hosting gig. “It was something small that I had a passion for when I was about seven years old. I used to pretend like I had a cooking show and I would just record myself doing that. So having this opportunity is very big for me.”

With all of this success that has come Biko’sManna’s way, over 2.2 million Instagram followers and 309k YouTube subscribers, how does BikoStar balance it all as a 17-year-old teenager going through what normal teenagers without the fame, attention and pressure to succeed, go through?

“I mean, obviously, there would be times when you feel like it's overwhelming. There's just like a lot that's happening and you can't keep up, but in a good way. You know what I mean? It's just, I think I need to kind of find a way to create a routine for myself that's healthy for me,” she said.

But BikoStar has had very good preparation for a time like this. With her brothers, she had been on the set of Takalani Sesame, the South African co-produced version of Sesame Street, where she also recorded voice-overs. Her parents had been invited to attend an event hosted by the organisers of Takalani Sesame in South Africa when her father spoke to an executive on the original about the talent of his children, their singing and whatnot.

“I was like ‘I have these kids, they play the guitar, they do big things.’ And that lady, she was like, ‘You must send me the videos. I want to see them doing these things.’ She was so impressed and she told them in South Africa,” he said.

“I am this guy who always likes to start conversations with people. I didn’t know it would grow into this.”

BikoStar says being on Takalani Sesame was humbling.

“Just growing with them is just so humbling. We learnt as we go. We were in front of the camera,” she said of those days.

But for now, she is focused on local collaborations. She would like to be on projects with other African acts. She is also working with Biko’sManna to put some original music out.

“Hopefully it will be a successful one,” she said.