Ladysmith KZN: ‘House’ music sensation rises from the dusty streets of Thembalihle

Ladysmith has a ‘house’ music sensation in its midst and might not even know it… Hailing from Steadville (Thembalihle) on the outskirts of town, he is none other than Sphamandla Dlamini, popularly known as ‘Vico Da Sporo’.

It all started for Sphamandla in 2001, when he was in Grade 8. At that time, there was a sound hire business at his home and a local group of dancers in his neighbourhood. He would play songs for this crew and that’s when the love of DJing ‘found him’, as he had to learn how to substitute a song without interrupting the flow of his dancers.

Things changed again when he met a friend who happened to have music production software on his computer. That spiked his interest in learning how to make beats and mix music.

From there, he never looked back and is now doing his own music, which is becoming more and more popular all the time.

In 2009, he landed a deal with a record label based in Johannesburg, which helped him release an EP (Extended Play). After that stepping stone, he decided to go independent, as he believes there is so much more he can do without being tied down to a company.

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From 2010, he started releasing music independently. At that time it was hard copies, which he says were selling, and people responded positively to his music.

In 2018, he released a single called ‘Lento’, which was released online. He earned himself 20,000 streams on digital stores within a short space of time with that single. This encouraged him even more, as it showed he was on the right track.

His real breakthrough, however, was in 2020 when he released an album featuring the hit song ‘Luthando’, which is currently sitting above 1.2 million views on YouTube, and growing each and every day.

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