Eli Zaelo On Landing A Role On Disneyland’s The Lion King In China

Eli Zaelo On Landing A Role On Disneyland’s The Lion King In China. While pursuing a music career in a foreign country and foreign city might sound like task and a half, but Pretoria-born songstress Eli Zaelo makes it took up that challenge and she’s now ravelling in its glory. Eli Zaelo, real name Tshegofatso Mhlongo, recently released her first Mandarin single titled Stories About Love. Eli gradually entered the Hong Kong music industry which led to her first TV debut.

“I moved to Hong Kong in 2015 after I auditioned and landed a role of “Nala” in Hong King Disneyland’ ‘The Lion King’ Musical. I always joke that I came for the musical and stayed for the City. After I played the role for a year and a half, I decided that I wanted to stay for longer. It turned out that Hong Kong was very much into the live music scene. Trying out something new has been an exciting challenge,” said Eli.

Eli said her after she left her role on The Lion King, her mentor suggested that she try singing in Mandarin. “At first I was taken aback because it seemed like such a difficult thing to do, but when I returned home I contacted a tutor and started learning Mandarin. I fell in love with the language and still continue my efforts to learn it. I decided that if I was going to do this, I would have to do it as ‘me’ and stay true to myself – hence the African instrumentation. The more the idea was knitted together, the more I wondered why I hadn’t done it sooner! From then on, everything (including how I met my current band) just fell into place effortlessly. Now there is no turning back! I usually write my songs in English and my tutor and I work together on translating it,” Eli added.

Speaking on breaking into the Hong Kong music scene Eli said: “I started off by getting bookings for live performances in acclaimed 5-star hotels and so on. I also performed for organised events such as a Brand South African event in Shanghai, hosted by The Hong Kong Cultural and Leisure Department. Following that, I decided to produce my own songs with my newly released singes and so far I am pleased with the response.”