Flying the music flag high in a mining town
Thobelani Gina together with his friend have released 3 albums so far under the Maskhandi genre, which is Zulu music that has a traditional feel to it.
Thobelani Gina is flying the Westonaria mining region’s flag high and has released three albums in his music career. He now hopes to release more.
His genre is that of Maskhandi, which is Zulu music with a traditional feel to it.
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Although having been born and bred in KwaZulu-Natal in a town called Hluhluwe e Mdletshene, Gina has been a resident in the mining town for over seven years and has also stayed in Carletonville, another mining town.
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These are the areas where he pursued his music career and met those, who would later be instrumental in his success as a musician.
Speaking to the Herald in an interview, Gina said he kickstarted his singing career back in 2003 and hasn’t dreamt of doing anything else.
“’I started my music career back in 2003 with my friends and it wasn’t so successful. We separated as a group and I then went on my own and continued with my passion, which is to make music. While I was very dedicated at the time, unfortunately, my solo venture was somehow unsuccessful but I did not lose hope as I knew that music is what I wanted to do. I then moved to Wedela in Carletonville where I met the late guitarist Nkosingiphile Chagi and we started making music together and things just fell into place,” Gina said.
He added that they decided to move to Glenhavie, Westonaria where they continued with their passion and later formed a group under the name Fish’odlamazi.
Sadly, Chagi has since passed away and Gina was later joined by Sabelo Hlatshwayo as a dancer and guitarist releasing three albums since.
Although he said his music hasn’t reached great heights yet, he is adamant that he is making waves in the industry as he has performed at a festival at Key West Shopping Center in Krugersdorp, the Nasrec Exhibition Center, and the Standard Bank Arena in Johannesburg.
His music is available on these online channels – YouTube, Spotify, and Apple iTunes.
