Early PE rejection spurs singer on to great success overseas
EVEN though former St George’s College pupil Ngqibeko Peter Ncanywa never knew he would one day be topping radio charts in the United Kingdom, he did know he wanted to become a musician when he started guitar lessons at the age of six.
Known by his stage name “Peter Ngqibs”, the US-based singer and songwriter mixed business with pleasure when he visited Port Elizabeth recently while also personally promoting his pop alternative album, Let Me Go, on local media stations.
From waiting tables at restaurants and receiving his share of rejection, Ngqibs’s unyielding yearning for a career in music was enough motivation for him achieve his dream.
“From a very young age I’ve always known I wanted to sing … my parents even sent me to Drakensberg Boys Choir School because they saw my passion for music.”
From Drakensberg, Ngqibs joined St George’s College where he played piano for the school’s assembly until he completed his matric.
It was after matriculating from St George’s that Ngqibs came face-toface with rejection for the first time.
“During my high school days I started putting together a demo of my music in a studio [in PE] and when I tried to get one of my songs played on a local radio station, one of the DJs there completely shut me down and said it wasn’t good enough.
“She even went on to play me her own demo to show me what ‘a real demo should sound like’,” he said.
While the incident hit his ego hard, he said he was glad to have been back with his album at the same radio station 12 years later.
The musician took a gap year after matric and moved to the US more than 10 years ago, where he ended up studying music at Montclair State University (New Jersey).
In Let Me Go, Ngqibs shares personal experiences on “finding freedom” to become who one truly is outside society’s expectations.
Since the release of the album in August last year, the first single, Broken, has been nominated in the Best Rock Song Music Video category at the Berlin Motion Picture Festival and for Best Music Video category at the Garden State Film Festival in New Jersey.
His music has since been topping charts in the UK with his single Free Me reaching number one on Radio Indie Alliance’s top 10.
The album has been a dream come true for the soft-spoken musician, who also dreams of working with Lira and getting a chance to perform at South Africa’s Afropunk festival.
“Wherever I go I keep saying that I want to work with Lira and I have a song that I’ve written that is a perfect duet for me and her … everything is ready,” he said.
While he continues to rise above the struggles of being an independent artist, Ngqibs is open to work under “the right” record label.
Let Me Go is available for download on digital music platforms.