‘South Africans brainwashed’
VETERAN musician Ringo Madlingozi believes the SABC’s 90% local content quota failed because South Africans have been brainwashed into wanting foreign music.
During an interview with Gareth Cliff on Cliffcentral‚ Ringo said that even though he was an avid supporter of the policy‚ it didn’t benefit him financially as an artist.
“Did you get paid?” Gareth asked‚ to which Ringo simply answered “No.”
“I’m in South Africa. We need to play our own music‚ black or white. We have our own music‚ don’t we? And for the fact that the advertisers are the ones who decide that we need to have Beyonce or whatever playing‚ for me‚ I believe that we need to love ourselves more‚” he said.
Ringo said that he believed that the policy failed because people were so used to listening to foreign songs.
“People have been so brainwashed into wanting to listen to foreign music. You are going to want to listen to something (if it’s played all the time). There used to be this song by Judy Boucher ( Can’t Be With You Tonight) that I hated until I loved‚” he said.
The musician said that if more local music was played‚ people would adapt and eventually grow to love their own music.
Ringo said that he did not hate foreign artists‚ but felt like South Africans needed to change their mind-set towards local music. — DDC