He might have a familiar face on the rugby field, but there is a complete other and unknown side to Siya Mazibuko. During a recent dance showcase, Siya and Carin Lombard performed the famous song ‘The Prayer’ (sung by Celine Dion and Andrea Boccelli). Their voices gave the audience chills, even though Carin is well-known for her musical talent. Siya, on the other hand, surprised everyone with his amazing and soulful voice.
Siya shyly tells his story behind this unique talent: “From Grade 1 to Grade 3, I was at Vryheid Public Primary School. From Grade 4 to 6, I was at Nardini Convent School. Grade 7 to 9 was at the Drakensberg Boys Choir School. From Grade 10 to 12, I was at Kearsney College.” Drakensberg Boys Choir visited Nardini during a marketing campaign and they invited all the boys to audition. Siya and a few friends decided to ‘do it for the fun of it and as a joke’. He remembers singing ‘Silent Night’ during the audition and the teacher made him sing it twice. He laughingly says that he thought he was that bad at singing that they made him sing twice. A few months later, Siya received a call from the Drakensberg Boys Choir School (DBCS), offering him a scholarship to attend the school as from the following year. “We literally had two weeks to prepare for everything,” he admits.
After Grade 9, he attended Kearsney College, who offered him another scholarship based on his music, which kept Siya on the musical platform. DBCS only accommodates boys up to Grade 9 and thereafter they aren’t regarded as ‘boys’ anymore, but rather ‘young men’. “After school, I sort of got tired of music, but I was part of the Durban Chamber Choir for two years. Afterwards, I really got tired of music and I got accepted to the University of Witwatersrand and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, also to study music. But I opted to try my hand at business. I worked for a church for seven years and taught myself certain jobs.” Siya joined Lucas Meyer Primary School recently as an educator’s assistant. Siya is very modest when he tells the Vryheid Herald that Carin knew he could sing and the word spread around school, which ended up in the two of them performing during the school’s prefect announcement evening.
Siya is not a stranger to the stage, since he performed at the Johannesburg Market Theatre in a production called Umoja (The Spirit of Togetherness). Even though he only filled in for a month (of two) in the production, he gained tremendous experience in musical theatre. He only had six days to learn the choreography and the words, but fortunately he was familiar with the production since he studied it in his matric year. For two consecutive years, he filled in at the theatre.
Singing and music is a part of Siya, even though he tried to ‘run away’ from it for a few years. Siya is back on stage and hopefully he will pursue his talent so that the rest of Vryheid will have to experience this 34-year-old’s rich voice. Siya admits that he enjoyed every moment during his last performance and he promises to investigate the possibility of performing a few more songs. However, in the meantime, he’ll tackle his opponents on the rugby field.
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