They say, “Two heads are better than one.”, and in this case I believe the same applies with angelic voices. As South Africans we love music, vocalists and a nation who has a deep love and cultural respect for family. With this in mind it feels like this duet ticks all the boxes for becoming the next superstars to hit the music scene, stages and our screens, and I have every reason to believe that will be happening sooner than later. If you don’t know who I’m talking about it’s sister duo Sai Hle.
SAI HLE is a South African sister duo, Siphosethu (SAI) and Amahle (HLE) Koom. Born in Gqeberha and raised in Johannesburg, they are singers, songwriters and performers whose music moves between Amapiano, Afrotech, Dance, and Pop with a distinctly South African heartbeat. They honed their craft through school and church choirs before venturing into gospel as teenagers, then shifting to mainstream music. Their career officially launched in 2021 with their debut single UBUMNND launching in October 2025. Between the years they have grown from local collaborators to internationally signed artists with Platoon.
It doesn’t end there. The powerful sister duo has gone to work with the likes of Sun-El Musician, Marcus Harvey, MacG, KARYENDASOUL & more. They’ve performed on 5FM, Morning Live, Power FM and most recently graced the stage of the Redbull Symphonic that took place on the 13th and 14th of June at Monte Casino. It’s clear to see that the sisters have a goal and vision in mind, and determined to achieve it but why not here more about them from themselves right?
INTERVIEW WITH SAI HLE
Being sisters did you guys grow-up together? If so, what was it like? If not, how was it getting to learn and know each other?
Good day dear Sango. We did grow up together, we’re actually two sisters from a family of 6 people. We share a mom and a dad. It was quite a lovely experience. Growing up in a big family really taught us about being peoples persons. It had its ups and downs but the relationship we got out of it was worth more than anything.
We know that siblings love each other but also tend to fight and sometimes have some secret rivalry. Which one are you and describe your relationship?
We love how quirky this question is but also quite real. We were raised as friends before anything else by our parents so even the communication is very much like I’m dealing with a friend who so happens to be my sibling and depending on how you treat your friends because we like and value our friends so no disagreement ever lingers or grows to a point of it being nasty. We’ve grown to communicate well and just simply understand each other and with understanding there’s grace, and honestly there’s nothing better in this world than knowing that you can manoeuvre the ways of life with a friend who you share genes in common with. It’s like talking to yourself from a different point of view, it’s very empowering. l
You share this love of music together is it because you come from a musical family or background?
Yes, we come from a musical artistic family background and the arts and music has always been encouraged in our family as a form of expression. Now that we get to make a living out of it is somewhat of a really beautiful dream coming to life.
How did you decide that you would be great as a singing sister duo and what are the pros and cons that come with it?
We saw that it was what worked for us. We’ve actually been singing together for some years now, like literally since we were very young and as we got older it never left us really.
The pros are in this industry, you’re never alone. You get to experience every little thing with someone close to your heart and life. There’s so many pros. Artistry generally needs chemistry. When that chemistry is like, familial but also friendship it makes the work process so much easier.
The cons that come with it is sometimes people try to pin us against each other, lol. It never works but it does get annoying having to experience that. We don’t mind people having favourites but you don’t have to put the one down to bring the other up. Another con is, it’s quite expensive having to pay for everything in doubles haha. And also having to match each other’s energy all the time even when individually we may not be on par on that day.
When making music how do you guys decide who writes the sons and who is the lead and backing vocals?
We have a very free approach to writing and singing, we both co- write all of our songs and we both sing on all of our songs, we both do backing vocals, we’re literally very hands on about the process of creating the songs that we give to our listeners.
Leads are dependent on who we both agree depicts the story well vocally.
What has the journey been like as a singing duet? We don’t get those often here in South Africa so has been received openly or do you still have to convince people of it?
The reception has actually been very welcoming and kind. People have been open and supportive of what we’re doing and it’s almost as if they look forward to seeing what we can do with this beautiful band/ duo of ours. We’ve been so appreciative of the love and good energy that we’ve received so far from people.
Being a duet when it comes to features is it a must that both of you be featured or do you do your own individual features?
It’s a definitely must, there’s no question about it. We literally move as a unit in the music space.
You’ve done a lot of features especially with some big names like Marcus Harvey & Sun-El Musician songs, which has been your favourite so far?
Goodness! Honestly, we don’t have any favourite features they’ve all been so great to work with.
I knew you for your RnB and Neo-Soul and there’s this unspoken rule in South Africa where vocalists don’t get much love in those genres compared to those in House and Piano, what are your feelings and views on the matter?
From the experience of being somewhat of genre travellers, because we moved from singing backing vocals for gospel musicians to singing with local neo-soul giants like Marcus Harvey; we’ve found that is not always a genre thing. I think when an artist finds their niche it becomes a little easier for them to find their fan base and supporters. We were in the beginning somewhat in denial that dance music was in fact our niche but the more we did it we realised that there’s not much of a point in fighting and we embraced it.
We don’t particularly have a feeling or view on how RnB and Neo-Soul aren’t frontline genres in our country. Every region has its preference and because the world is far more accessible now, just go where you’re loved.
Your single UBUMNND is doing amazing and I know that there are some unreleased songs from Sai Hle that still need to come out. When are we getting them and is an EP coming soon?
Thank you so much for the love! UBUMNND as a single has made us very grateful and thankful in-terms of how well it has been received by the public. The love we’ve been getting has just been so encouraging, we are so grateful. We are going to be releasing a new single this year, potentially 2. we’re really excited about it! In terms of an EP we’re working on it! But it’s definitely on its way as well.
You don’t have a lot of your own catalogue out but your branding is impeccable with the Tik-Toks, Fashion and connecting with your community do you ever feel that it outshines your actual profession as musicians?
Not at all! In fact, it brings more and more attention to the music! We don’t strictly view ourselves as JUST musicians. Musicians we are but ultimately, we are artists. And an artist is multi facet. So being recognised for the different faces we have it always so fulfilling!
With your profession being musicians how was it performing at Redbull Symphonic and other shows as the feature artists/back-up vocals and when can we expect to see Sai Hle on stage as the main mic?
The symphonic was magnetic! Simply incredible! A big step in the right direction for us! It’s always so fun and nerve-wrecking but totally fun being on stages, whether we’re the back-up or the feature artist. We’re pushing being out there now as the main performers, and creating more of a in person community. Expect to see us on big stages as the main mic when the stars align. But for now, being in the spaces, meetin the people that make the numbers on the platforms possible for us makes us hungrier to push to go higher and higher basically.
How do you separate the personal from the professional with being actual family and having deep-rooted bonds?
We have a pretty good working order. We’ve been singing together for some time now and so because of that there’s just an understanding and a good culture of communication between the two of us, so we know when and how to separate the two worlds.
END.
FRATPACKER WORLD. 
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