Living with a disability is not a barrier to greatness
The Germiston Theatre hosted an Artsability workshop headlined by celebrated musical acts Babsy Mlangeni, Steve Kekana and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
The Germiston Theatre hosted a music workshop led by legends Steve Kekana and Babsy Mlangeni on Thursday.
The workshop was aimed at inspiring artists living with disabilities and addressing their challenges in the music industry, and it saw many absorbing the knowledge shared by the legends.
In the first session, Babsy shared his painful experience of being undermined by his peers for being blind and how that turned him into a hard worker.
“Breaking into the music industry is hard, no matter how talented you are, and it’s even harder when you have a disability,” said Babsy.
“You have to work three times harder than able-bodied people competing for the same rewards.”
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Babsy lost his eyesight at the age of three and he credits music with allowing him to express himself and share his ideas with the world.
“Music is important in our lives because in it we find closure, joy and comforting words.”
“The messages I related to in the music I listened to inspired me to write music that could uplift people’s spirits, make them take charge of their lives and live better lives,” he said.
Babsy, who made the quote “If you don’t dig African music, you’ve got a hole in your soul” famous in the ’80s, urged musicians to detail their music with honest, inspiring lyrics filled with culture.
“I sang a song called Buoa Nnete expressively once with a group in high school and we could not believe the response from the crowd.
“I gained popularity after performing that song and I vowed to tell my truth whenever I recorded music,” he said.
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Steve Kekana took centre stage at the workshop during the second session.
The Feel So Strong hit- maker was strongly bothered by the stigma surrounding musicians and their financial affairs when they died, and based his session on the importance of investing your money and knowing the copyright laws for music as an artist.
“We hear stories all the time about artists dying broke and artists travelling the world who have no physical money in their bank accounts,” said Steve.
“I did not want to be another statistic, so I learned all about copyright laws, the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) and musical royalties.”
Steve holds B Juris and LLB degrees; he is an advocate and has lectured on labour law at the University of South Africa (Unisa).
Currently, Steve also serves as the chairperson of the SAMRO Retirement Annuity Fund, a fund he spoke passionately about, inviting musicians at the workshop to do their research and set up retirement funds because they would not be touring musicians forever.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo surprised attendees after lunch with an informative session which focused on the discipline needed in the fast-paced industry.
“The biggest challenge we have in our country is that our artists want to act rich before they start making money.
“They want to see themselves on stages and musical platforms overseas before they make it big in their own cities,” said Thulani Shabalala.
“People often ask us how we have kept a clean image over all these years, and our answer is simple: we respect our craft.”
Thulani explained that in an industry infused with drugs and a constant invitation to live a flashy lifestyle, it’s easy for new artists to be impressionable.
“Bad behaviour and lack of discipline has caused the downfall of many artists.”
“Many breakout artists usually find themselves kissing their careers goodbye without ever making their mark or leaving a legacy,” he said.
The group, which has been in the limelight for 58 years, said their much-loved harmonies would not have been possible had the founder of the group, Joseph Shabalala, not heeded a series of dreams he had in 1964.
“He had the same dreams for a couple of days, in which he heard voices singing isicathamiya in soulful harmonies and he endeavoured to teach us,” said Albert Mazibuko, one of the first members of the group.
Albert described how comical it all was in 1960 when they formed their first group, Ezimnyama, and how their sound changed and it was hard to adapt to in 1964 because they were learning the melodies from a man who had heard them in a dream.
“Joseph was an avid smoker and in the dream one of his ancestors advised him to stop smoking because the habit had harmed his insides already.
“By discarding his smoking habit and focusing on music, all our families developed a similar lifestyle of not smoking or indulging in alcohol, which has helped build our clean image as a group,” he said.
The group disclosed that by establishing the Ladysmith Black Mambazo Mobile Academy they hoped to impart their skills, knowledge and share their mistakes so future generations could achieve greater success.
The workshop ended on a high note when the Germiston Theatre management granted workshop attendees free entrance to the Artsability Festival which was held on Friday night, headlined by the three musical legends together with learners from Dominican School for the Deaf.
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