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appreciation of their music saying that would help develop music in the region.
Speaking in separate interviews after staging five-star performances in front of more than 1 000 people who attended the wedding ceremony of Virgilance Langa, the daughter of Cde Andrew Langa in Filabusi on Saturday, contemporary jazz artistes Jeys and Ndebele said people now appreciate music unlike in the past few years where local music was overridden by foreign music.
The two musos had been invited to perform at the wedding and wowed the crowd.
So scintillating was the performance that the rural fans who are usually starved of entertainment because musicians do not usually play in rural areas were left asking for more.
At some point the Deputy President of the Senate Cde Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, Deputy Minister of Public Service Cde Langa and other high-ranking officials took to the stage to dance and sing along to Jeys’ music.
So thrilled was the crowd that the Master of Ceremonies had to struggle to convince them to go for lunch in the afternoon as they demanded that Ndebele continue playing.
Jeys appealed to local people to love local music.
“Our appeal is that people should love local music. It is sad to see how we even rally behind foreign music yet we have our own,” he said.
“Filabusi is the capital of Godlwayo and it is an honour to have been invited here by the MP Cde Langa to entertain. We are happy to get an opportunity to play at a wedding. People now appreciate our music as can be evidenced by the fact that even political leaders now want us to play in some of their activities and this uplifts our music.”
Jeys also challenged musicians to put their best performance so as not to shortchange fans.
Jeys’ new album, Jeys at 40, is expected before the end of the year.
Songbird Ndebele, backed by her dancing girls Siphathisiwe Mabhena and Samantha Mazibisa, left the people of Msithi asking for more with her nimble footedness. “Sandy”, as Ndebele is affectionately known to her fans, said opportunities were opening up for artistes because people from across the board were now appreciating music.
Ndebele said musicians faced a challenge of balancing between the type of fans according to their needs and demands.
However, she challenged seasoned artistes to assist budding ones especially from within their groups to develop music.
“I have groomed Izintombi Zomqangala to empower the girl child without having to make them dance in clubs and bars. As seasoned artistes we should develop our genres so that even if we retire the legacy lives
on,” she said with particular reference to hit township musician the late Beater Mangethe. Ndebele said there was selfishness among artistes whom she said were not willing to groom youngsters.
“We need to promote our members. We cannot have stables like Splash or what Platform One and Freddy Gwala are doing because we cannot groom our group members,” she said.
Ndebele who last week staged a memorable show in Plumtree commended her family for being supportive despite spending most of her time away from home. She has stood the test of time and remained highly esteemed as one of the best female artistes in Bulawayo. Ndebele advocated for a paradigm shift in the way the society views female artistes.
“There is a need for a change in perspective and the way they think about us. In most of our shows we cannot draw large crowds because our dances have been classified as sexy which is different for men who do
the same kind of dances. Even the media praises male artistes than us.”
She said women themselves need to be strong to overcome criticism. “Mina I am a strong character I could have left but I am not a loser because I can go out of my way and fight criticism.”
Online Reporter