Disgruntled artists complain about exclusion from show

Some local singers and musicians expressed their dissatisfaction about being excluded from the line-up for the annual Makhado Show.

King Mlatiro, who is an established and popular singer from Madombidzha village, said that he had been excluded from the show line-up for five consecutive years. He had once got involved in a bitter war of words with the previous show organisers, after they had reportedly promised to include him in the line-up, but all those were empty promises.

“I wrote a letter of grievance to the Makhado Municipality with all the facts stated about my problem some two years ago,” he said. “I thought things would change, but we still continue suffering.”

He added that it was unfair to receive such bad treatment from the municipality that collects service rates from locals. “We can’t allow a situation where we are treated like monkeys who come to watch outsiders perform at our own show while we are discriminated against by our very municipality,” he said. “The same artists, who are all outsiders, perform every year … in our own town … in front of our fans,” he lamented. “I meet a lot of people in town. They would say, ‘King Mlatiro, we are coming to see you perform!’, but each time I have to explain that local artists are not in the line-up.”

A hip-hop fanatic and popular producer, Teddy-H, whose real name is Humbulani Rasikhwela, said: “The Makhado Municipality hardly invites us. They use service providers (ones who invite or select artists) who know less or nothing about local talent. Any sane event organiser would contact local radio stations for local artists’ selection, because it is at community radio stations where they know the quality of our music.”

An established soundmaker and producer, Ishmael “newBreed” Rammnbwa, had worked with and revived the talent of the veteran Tshivenda traditional guitarist, April Ramufhi. “We make very good music as is evident from thousands of our fans and radio stations who play our music,” said newBreed. “It shocks us to see unknown ‘artists’, individuals from nowhere, perform at annual shows while veterans like Vho-April Ramufhi are sidelined by their own municipality. Our municipality continues to empower artists who have already benefited from their respective municipalities. Go out there in the streets and ask ordinary residents if our talent is not real talent.”

A media inquiry was sent to the municipal spokesperson, Louis Bobodi, who promised to look into the matter and get back with comments.

Date:07 August 2015

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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