POLOKWANE – After being part of Clash of the Choirs SA season 1 under team Judith, a local singer Tshegofatso Mbambala have finally released her single titled ‘Best Friend’. The song is a mixture of three genres being RnB, gospel and jazz.
Mbambala said she realised that she could sing at the age of 12 and that is when she started entering for school competitions.
“I have shared the stage and recorded music videos with the gospel star, Keke Phoofolo.”
“I entered for South African Arts Development Association (SAADA) and I won the provincial round and this gave me an opportunity to battle it out against other artists in the national level.”
SAADA is a non-profit organisation which was established by the kwaito legend, Arthur Mafokate and its aim is to help nurture young talent. SAADA’s main focus is to identify and nurture up-and-coming South African artists in their various creative fields.
“All the provincial winners were give resources to record a song which they had to perform in front of the crowd and judges to win the national round,” said Mbambala.
It was unfortunate that Mbambala could not win the national round.
Mbambala said she gets good response from people about her single (listen to it below) and has been to various radio stations to promote herself. “I want to drop another single somewhere in February because I want to market myself first before I could release a full album. I wrote ‘Best Friend’ in 2009 and the song was inspired by my brother. I caught him playing a very nice tune on his guitar and that is when the lyrics started flowing from my mouth,” she explained.
When asked why a mixture of three genres in one song, Mbambala said she wanted to be an RnB singer but her mother suggested she pursue gospel and her band introduced jazz since they love jazz tunes. She said, “I wanted to accommodate everyone, hence this kind of mixture. I believe I am the only singer so far who features three genres in one song.”
She would like to study musicology next year to understand the music industry well. Asked about her take on singers who use drugs to boost their confidence on stage, Mbambala said one does not need drugs to boost anything: “If you are shy to face the crowd, it means you are in the wrong industry,” she said.
