Disabled singer Selinha Musobi released her second album, Ndi tshifhinga, a fortnight ago. The album comprises ten tracks.
She started singing in 1988 as member of her congregation. She grew up listening to famous musicians such as Rebecca Malope and Joyous Celebration, and she said she drew inspiration from them.
“Recording the album was not easy,” said Musobi. Despite having plenty of songs readily available, she had to fund the project herself. In order to enhance her writing and composition skills, she took piano lessons. She composes songs in Tshivenda, English and Sepedi.
Even though the album is self-marketed, it has sold many copies since its release and has been receiving a lot of airplay from different radio stations around the area. Musobi is also taking her music to the people through promotions.
Her debut album, Tshifhambano, was released in 2010 and contained disco music. It took her four years to come up with a different sound altogether. "My recent album shows that I have matured musically and as a person, and I am excited at the turn of events. Since its release, my phone has never stopped ringing. The demand for my album is so high that it has encouraged me to work even harder to make my next album better,” she said.
She added that she sang about personal experiences “and what I see happening in my vicinity. I also give advice here and there through my music, and by the look of things, I will continue singing this type of music as it is proving very popular,” she said.
Tracks that are already popular include Sendelani khayeso and Hune nda doya hone. In Sendelani Khayeso, she urges young girls to focus on getting themselves educated because, in her view, no modern man should marry an uneducated woman.
“Girls must make education their first priority in life,”she said. “In today's world, an uneducated girl is like an empty drum behind the door in a dry, rainless season – that drum is useless because it has no water inside it.”
“I sing the kind of music which encourages understanding and respect within the family and in relationships,” she explained.
