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Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
Musicians nationwide have been criticised for failing to raise awareness through their music during the fight against Covid-19.
Some fans feel that musicians have let them down as they had hoped to hear them making a stand against this deadly virus.
Arts and music promoter, Mahwindo had no kind words for the new generation of musicians last week as she said they are driven by money only.
“When HIV started, we saw the likes of Tuku, Albert Nyathi, Busi Ncube, Andy Brown and Nicholas Zacharia doing an awareness song with one voice. But now, you have to put money for artistes to collaborate otherwise they won’t,” posted an infuriated Mahwindo on her Facebook page.
Besides awareness songs, most artistes, since the lockdown began, have generally been mum. Mahwindo said this was another problem, they risk losing relevance.
“Artistes, don’t get relaxed during this lockdown. Entertain people on your social media pages and communicate with fans. Otherwise when the lockdown ends, some of you will be forgotten and trying to make a comeback is going to prove difficult.
“Gatherings are going to take time to be allowed so it’s time to really think about this and find ways to remain relevant.”
Artistes have their own story to tell. Most said as much as they would love to record music, they cannot do so as they do not have the equipment at home and cannot risk their lives.
House songstress Novuyo Seagirl said: “There’s no way I can do any coronavirus song because there’s no studio I can go to when I’m under lockdown.
“What I’m doing though is expanding my social media following and creating more content by composing more songs and doing online shows as they are the in thing now.”
Afro-jazz musician Thandy Dhlana concurred with Seagirl saying she does not have a studio at home and as such, is not able to record.
Another house sensation, Bhadilah said he has improvised by composing a Covid-19 related poem in Tshivenda titled Corona – Tshi tshili tshi shushaho translating to Corona – A virus that scares.
“I didn’t compose a song, but rather, I composed a poem in Tshivenda. I deliberately composed a poem in that language as I wanted to raise awareness to our people on this pandemic.
“It’s our duty as artists to raise awareness in our communities to help curb the further spread of the virus,” said Bhadilah.
Rhumba/Tshibilika musician Clement Magwaza said he is holed up at his rural home.
“The challenge is that the lockdown caught me while I was at my rural home in Plumtree. There’s no way I can produce a song here.”
Madlela Skhobokhobo said he is practising self-isolation during the lockdown thus has no means to produce a song on the pandemic.
Ndux Jnr who also is in the rhumba/tshibilika genre said he has composed a song although he is yet to record it since movement is restricted during the lockdown period.
Gospel musician Mai Mwamuka said a song is in the pipeline as she collaborated with a local artiste. Another gospel artiste, Martha Longwe said: “This has really been a difficult time and I continue to seek God’s divine intervention. My producer is stuck in South Africa because of the lockdown and even if he was here, we would still have to go where the studio is and the police wouldn’t let that happen. But I guess we just have to stay home because it’s for our own good.”
Veteran musician Sandra “Sandy” Ndebele had a different angle as she said producing a song at the moment would be a total waste of resources as not many people would pay attention to it as they are only interested in news updates of the pandemic.
“Producing a song now is not quite a good idea as no one wants to listen to a song about Covid-19 as that is depressing. That’s why I did not release any,” said Sandy.
Adept hip-hop musician Asaph said if he had to record, he would not be able to apply the social distancing rule as a song’s production requires a lot of people.
“For me personally, this pandemic is too serious and needs actual action in real life. Plus, we’re in a lockdown. Studios are closed and we won’t be able to apply social distancing when we record,” said Asaph.
Walter Wanyanya, Tuku’s last manager said people need to understand that it takes a lot to produce a song so with the situation currently, it is close to impossible for artistes to record songs. He said like everyone else, the artistes are also feeling the pain inflicted by Covid-19 so to ask them to record songs is a bit too much.
“What people fail to understand is what goes on behind the work (song production). There’s a lot of work that goes into the production of a song – recording, mixing, mastering and this sometimes is done in three different studios.
“Releasing a song is not as simple, it’s not just a click of the finger and the song is out,” explained Wanyanya.
Performing live shows, he said was not easy too as it also takes a lot of work.
“Performing a live show is not simple. There are certain things artistes need to rehearse and prepare like sound and lighting etc so generally, a lot of things happen before the consumers get the final product.”
However, some up-and-coming artistes have released awareness songs. Zimdancehall chanter Jah Practice released a song on the pandemic titled Ishe Pindirai last week. Gospel musician Uncle Shepp also released a single titled Kukonda Corona that is receiving airplay on local radio stations. –@mthabisi_mthire.
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