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Veteran gospel musician Vho-Paul Mulaudzi recently released a new album, Rifhe Maanda.
The album comprises 10 melodious songs. Muladzi says that he is very happy about his latest release and maintains that the album is doing quite well.
His first album, Ndi na Murena, came out in 1986, followed by Tshira tsha muthu ndi mbilu (1989). At least 20 albums and a DVD followed after those two albums and Mulaudzi enjoyed great popularity.
“I started singing a long time ago as a boy in the United African Apostolic Church,” he says of his music career. “I remember clearly how I became more serious as a singer. It was in the ZCC church, where I led the Mkhukhu singing ensemble for three years.”
Mulaudzi said that the biggest challenge which musical artists faced in those days was securing a recording deal, particularly if one was a Muvenda. “I saw other singers being turned down by recording companies who felt that music sung in Tshivenda couldn't be commercially viable. There is a saying that the Vhavenda are less than a million in number. It seemed that anybody who wanted to invest into Vhavenda just felt discouraged by that thought alone.”
The Ha-Mammbwe-born artist, whose strong voice kept listeners craving for more through the previous three decades, maintains that the release of his first album proved the sceptics wrong, when the first print of the very album was sold out within weeks. Today, at the age of 62, Mulaudzi relives those memories with relish.
However, Mulaudzi sounds gloomy and sad as he speaks about the malignant poison of piracy. “I sell my music in taxi ranks in the town around Vhembe,” he says. “While I occupy this corner here, those who pirate our work will occupy the area over there, selling my music at a mere R10 per MP3 collection.”
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By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho
Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.
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The revival of Tshivenda traditional music is not just the pipe dream of some idealists. Judging by the turnout during a meeting held in Thohoyandou this past weekend, this form of music is about to undergo a major revival.
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