Robbie Malinga tombstone drama
He joins long list of greats who died on Christmas
Legendary musician Robbie Malinga’s tombstone has been removed.
This follows a public outcry shortly after it was unveiled when his fans complained that there was no resemblance of the much loved hitmaker on the seven-ton statue.
Malinga died on Christmas Day after a battle with cancer and was buried on Tuesday.
Bataung Memorials, which is behind the production of the human-size tombstone, removed it from the Westpark Cemetery yesterday to have it redone.
“As an innovative company we strive to create new things and make better tombstones,” Bataung Memorials owner Lebohang Khitsane said in a statement.
The new tombstone, which is currently being designed with the help of the Afro-pop musician’s family, will be revealed on January 23.
Malinga’s family declined to comment yesterday.
The statue, featuring the talented singer and songwriter in a suit and his signature sunglasses and replicas of some of the awards he has won, was slammed to be not looking like him.
“The stone was designed and the family approved it,” Khitsane said.
“And after comments from social media the family went back to say actually the comments are right we need to improve on certain parts of the statue.”
He added the statue cost about R450 000 to R650 000 but could not disclose wether the family paid for the statue or if it was sponsored.
Social media user Sarah Evans commented: “People spent R500 000 on a statue/tombstone of Robbie Malinga which will now be redone because, as social media people rightly pointed out, it looks nothing like him.”
Twitter user Nzwakie Die Money posted: “... I hope they create a better version of him.”
The Christmas curse hit the South African music industry hard last year.
Just as the Christmas pudding was settling in and the festive parties kicked into full swing, the news of Robbie Malinga’s death following a battle with cancer filtered through and immediately dampened our spirits. He was 49.
It was a scene all too familiar following the death of UK singing legend George Michael, who passed away on Christmas Day of 2016.
Icons Charlie Chaplin, a lot more years earlier, Helen Joseph in 1992, Dean Martin in 1995, James Brown in 2006 and Eartha Kitt in 2008, also died on Christmas Day.
And now, as the local music industry faces a new year without one of its most influential figures, the future is hard to fathom.
We speak to some of Malinga’s famous colleagues and collaborators as they pay tribute to a man who single-handedly breathed new life into Afro-soul/pop with his magic touch and compositions that gave countless soundtracks to generations.
DJ Sbu, producer and friend:
I will miss his sense of humour. He was a very easy-going person. He loved making jokes so that people around him could have fun. I am going to miss the times I had with him in the studio, the guidance, mentorship and his help.
I was planning to put together a full body of work towards the end of 2018. We kept postponing it but we had said this year we will start working and then we lost him. I don’t know how I will be able to work without him. I will definitely continue with his legacy. I am just grateful that I got a chance to work with him.
I spoke to him weeks ago and I told him that his number is not going through anymore.
He told me that he was hit by SIM card fraud and had changed his number. I laughed at him and he told me the same will happen to me and two weeks later, it happened.
When rumours of his death started doing the rounds before he actually died about three weeks ago, I called him and he said he was fine. A week after that there was a rumour that I was dead and I called him and he laughed at me. That was the last time I spoke to him.
Naima Kay, they collaborated on hit singles “Sokwenzenjani” and “Sweetie Lavo”:
I worked with him on a song on his last album in November. When we were done with the song, he said he had a song for me and he gave me the chorus and said I should finish the song. I asked why he is not part of the song he said: “I won’t perform this song with you”. I didn’t understand what he meant by that because I didn’t know he was sick so when I heard he had died it all made sense.
Since I started in the music industry he was featured in every single one of my albums and we worked well together. He always added a unique magic touch. I will miss him so much. I will miss everything about him and how he wanted to see us do well and he was never selfish with his talent.
“He used to call me sgebengu (crook) because when we first met he would say to me ‘you look shy but wena, I can tell you are a sgebengu’ . I will be releasing my first album without him. I am not sad because it is as if he knew that he won’t be around and that is why he made me write that song alone. I will miss his jokes a lot. He used to have jokes for days. He was never boring to be around.
Karabo Mogane, Malinga produced his latest album, Matters of the Heart:
The death of Robbie Malinga affected a lot of people who worked with him and those who wanted to work with him. It’s a great loss of knowledge and such skill. He still had so much more to give.
His legacy will live on and continue with those he helped.
We met for the first time in 2015 when he worked on one song for my first album, and he told me that I was going to be great. He called me in 2016 and offered to do my second album.
I couldn’t believe it; things like these don’t just happen. You don’t find someone that big and prolific come up to you and offer to work on your album.
The recording was great. We had a good time and chemistry. That’s why the album came out amazingly.
We even recorded a duet Sondela, for which I wrote the lyrics and he produced the music. A lot of emotion was invested in the recording.
I had hoped to work with him on my third album.
I knew how busy he was and how many people wanted to work with him because he was a genius.
I also wanted to sit him down and thank him for all he has done for me. I called him the whole of December and my phone was not going through and he never called me back.
As a pioneer of Afro-pop he laid a great foundation and it’s up to us to fight for the genre.
His death is also the passing on of the baton to the next generation. I want to be one of those people.
Musa Sukwene, recorded Mthande, with Malinga:
The last time I spoke to him was on my birthday on the 19th [of December]. He told me that everything would be fine. He didn’t want me to worry.
I am going to miss how we used to work well together and our performances. Our relationship went beyond just work. We were planning on working on my third album from February.