Kroonstad songbird melts Russian hearts
Radebe is using her talents fully
When Michael Jackson penned Stranger in Moscow he must have had Thandeka Seipati Radebe in mind – except Radebe is hardly seen as a stranger among the Russians as they have taken a strong liking for her.
Radebe has sung her way from the streets of Maokeng, Kroonstad, to the snow covered pavements of Russia.
The 26-year-old agronomy undergraduate student at the People’s Friendship University in Moscow has sung for Free State premier Ace Magashule and some of Russia’s wealthiest citizens.
The Free State government bursary holder has won a few accolades along the way. Magashule himself has described her as a “very talented singer, a young woman the whole country must be proud of”.
“Yes, he was very happy and even danced during one of my performances,” she says of Magashule’s reaction when he first saw her performance.
It has not been an easy journey for the songbird whose idols include the late Brenda Fassie and Miriam Makeba. Raised by a single mother after her father died, Radebe found an escape through music.
“My father died when I was very young. It was not easy because my mother had to raise three children on a meagre salary as she was working as a domestic worker,” she says.
Radebe then found her “calling” which was to sing. “I was a lead singer in crèche! I was teaching other children how to sing. “Even my mother could not quite understand how that was possible for a child my age. “I have been singing my whole life.” She is due to graduate in 2021, and although she loves singing, she is aware that her studies are equally important. The multilingual songstress has added Russian to a list of languages she speaks, including Tswana, Zulu, English, Sotho and Tsonga. She says after completing her studies she plans to use her skills for the betterment of her province and country.
“I want to have a big role in the agricultural industry by coming up with new innovative ways of improving the agricultural sector so that in the end, it benefits all of our people,” she says. Radebe will perform in Zulu Queen’s Chronicles – a musical based on a Zulu woman displaying her rich Zulu customs through music and dance. “Sometimes I cannot even believe that all of this is happening,” she says.