Traditional music legend, Dr. Sipho Sithole, is lamenting the decline in the reputation of traditional music, as musicians and celebrities are being promoted more, not music.
Sithole said it is shameful and embarrassing to see musicians who have contributed a lot to the music of skandi killing this music. He said this music is no longer the same as there is competition among fans, and who bought a more luxurious car than whose, and wealth.
Sithole says that he thinks that the wives of these musicians even ask their husbands why they are being overtaken by a man who has bought a luxury car. He said that there are musicians who only see money when they are hired when the album is recorded.
“After that they were still playing. This has caused poverty for the players of this music due to not being employed. Some musicians like Skindi sabe Suthu, who played the kostini, and Lahlumlenze, who was very famous for playing the accordion, ended up dead, dying of hunger.”
Sithole is speaking like this and has organized the Msinga Folk & Indigenous Music Festival for the Msinga community at the Mzisho sports fields in Tugela Ferry on March 21. He said he wants the audience to go home and keep their mouth shut as the instruments will be played live. He said that one of the things that will be very different about this event is that local and foreign artists will be performing. Among the locals, Mntuyenziwa, Inkosi Yamacokama, Simmy, Buhle Nhlangulela, Zakwe, Pomeroy Gordon Stars, Lwah Ndlunkulu, Soul Brothers, Big Zulu, Nkonzo, Felikhono, Thiwe and others were arrested. Foreign artists include Kommanda Obbs (Lesotho), Bholoja (Swaziland) and Positive Black Soul (Senegal).
Sithole, in partnership with her husband Velile Sithole, have experience in this role of organizing high-quality events and they are not the first as they brought Bob Marley’s son, Damian Marley in 2017. They have worked extensively in foreign countries taking musicians to festivals such as Womad (England, Australia, New Zealand), Atlantic Music Expo (Cape Verde), Doa Doa (Uganda), Azgo (Mozambique), Bushfire (Swatini), Africa Festival (Germany), Edinburgh Festivals (Scotland), Sacred Festival (India), Sakifo Festival (Reunion Island) and Sakifo Music Festival (Durban). Both of them were appointed by the Ministry of Arts and Culture in 2010 to organize annual concerts in China, where they took many groups to show the elegance and order of the music of the country’s artists.
The Msinga Folk & Indigenous Music Festival is supported by the National Arts Council, Presidential Employment Stimulas Programme, Umsinga Municipality, KZN Dept of Sports, Arts, and Culture, KZN Dept of Economic Development, Tourism and Environment, Amafa Research Institute, Msinga FM, and Wonga Music, who will be bringing water for the musicians and guests to drink. Tickets will be available at Ticketpro and Computicket for R150 (General), R550 (VIP), and R850 (VVIP). Shops are available at Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Jumbo, Spar, Checkers, Rhino Cash & Carry, Save, Power Fashion (Tugela Ferry), and Khonzinkosi Spar (Tugela Ferry).