MANDOZA MOURNED
Kwaito star’s hit song united a nation in the new democracy
We want people to know the real Mandoza. This is a time to reflect on his life
FOR SEVERAL years, he connected South Africans from across racial, social and economic standing, keeping them on their feet with his hit song Nkalakatha.
And yesterday, as news of his death broke, South Africans from all walks of life – including those from opposing political formations – were united in their grief, and tributes to Kwaito star Mduduzi Tshabalala, popularly known as Mandoza.
Mandoza succumbed to his long battle with cancer yesterday, after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in May last year. He was admitted to hospital a week ago but discharged later, with his family confirming that he was home and in a stable condition. But yesterday, Mandoza’s family confirmed that he died after being taken to hospital in the morning. Mandoza’s former manager Vaughn Eaton was quoted as saying the musician passed away while on his way to hospital after he experienced trouble breathing while with his wife, Mpho.
“On their way to the hospital, as they got to the gate of the hospital, he just passed away. He couldn’t breathe,” Eaton told EWN, adding that the family was in shock.
Yesterday afternoon, a sombre mood settled on Sithlenthle Street in Pimville, Soweto, where Mandoza’s house is. Children who idolised the star sat opposite the house among some adults as the news of the famous and well-loved neighbour began to hit home.
Among the children was 15-year old Sidwell Skhosana, who described the singer as his role model. “He made good music. He is the best kwaito singer. I cannot believe that he used to buy at the same spaza shop I always go to. I attended his last concert at Orlando Stadium, he was on fire.”
Another boy, Modise Netshitandani, 13, said: “His songs were the best, I will always love 50/50 and Nkalakatha… those ones never go out of fashion. The lyrics and the beats are just magic.”
Also at the house was Eugene Mthethwa, president of the SA Music Council. He said Mandoza wanted to spend his last days performing, although he was blind.
“He said: ‘Malome, I just want to perform on every gig available.’ He used to call me ‘Malome’ because Malome is a father figure, it’s because I have become a father to him and many others in the industry,” Mthethwa said.
“The Thank You SABC Concert provided a perfect opportunity for him to say goodbye. I appreciate the fact that he shared his comments until the last lap of his journey.”
Mandoza’s producer, Gabriel le Roux, said he was shattered at the musician’s death. “Hearing the news of Mandoza’s passing (away), I was devastated.
“He was like a son to me. I have worked with him for 20 years, since his first album, Chiskop. I was blessed to be part of his life to help showcase his amazing talent.
“Some of the greatest memories was the day we recorded Nkalakatha, he walked into the studio that day and said to me: ‘Gabi, this going to the greatest hit ever made.’ I laughed and boy, he was right, it became the biggest,” said Le Roux.
He described Mandoza as a man who loved his family. “I remember when he received the news of his first born. We were at the airport, he was so excited. We want people to know the real Mandoza, this should be the time to reflect on his life.”
In an interview with Drum magazine, Mpho said they believed he would beat the cancer after he did his last performance this month at the Thank You SABC Concert.
Mpho said her husband had been diagnosed with pharyngeal carcinoma, which is a type of head and neck cancer.
President Jacob Zuma yesterday extended condolences. He said South Africans had lost one of its pioneers.
NKALAKATHA is township slang for top dog. For the better part of the early 1990s, this is exactly what Mandoza was.
Born Mduduzi Tshabalala in Soweto, Mandoza was catapulted into national stardom by his hit song, Nkalakatha, in 2000. It was the lead single and title of his second solo album.
Frequent collaborator Gabi le Roux produced it. Just six years since the first democratic elections in South Africa, the nation was still struggling with the concept of the rainbow nation.
But Nkalakatha – with its undeniable rock riff influence and Mandoza’s rough intonations – succeeded in becoming a hit in both black and white circles.
Even 16 years later, the song is considered the crossover hit and can be heard everywhere from rugby matches to ratchet parties.
Le Roux chalks this status up to Mandoza’s ability to bring about social cohesion. “It takes one song to bring us together,” says Le Roux. “Nkalakatha was that song.” “Mandoza was also an example of an African boy who came from very humble beginnings but using his talent and working with the right people, he stood out as a shining example that anyone who believes in himself or herself can achieve their dreams,” says Le Roux.
“With the legacy of apartheid, the majority of our people had the odds stacked against them. In his time, it was a young democracy. But even the most right-wing and racist communities adored him and that song. He had the freedom of any city. We can take Mandoza as an example that a good song and an artist like that can bring us together,” he adds.
But Mandoza didn’t start out as a shining example. At just 16, he was arrested for car theft. When he came back home, he joined forces with Siphiwe “The General GTZ” Sibisi, the late Sizwe “Lollipop” Motaung and Sibusiso “Bless” Thanjakwayo.
Together, they became known as Chiskop and signed up with Arthur Mafokate’s 999 record label. There, they had a hit called Klaima.
General remembers how it all began: “We used to do gymnastics at a college in Jabulani (Soweto). After those classes, we’d exchange cassette tapes. Then we started writing our own songs and performing at places like Miss Soweto.”
At first, the group called itself The Red City Boys. Then they became Ragga City Breakers on account of their love for breakdancing.
But Mafokate wasn’t fond of these names. “So he thought: what is popular
ekasi?” General shares. “The one thing that everyone – from the gangsters to boys spinning cars to the taxi owners – had was a chiskop (bald head).”
“And Arthur said: ‘Ja! That’s the name.’ After a while, we made Chiskop have this meaning for us. Children have intelligence in Soweto, especially when they put their kops together.”
In the late 1990s, Chiskop worked closely with Le Roux under his company, Groove City, with house music maverick Tim White. “In 1999, we decided Mandoza was the most obvious one to launch as a solo artist first.
“He’s got that X-factor that you cannot train or teach or buy with money. He’s just born with it. He displayed early on that he was such a strong catalyst for people to be attracted to Chiskop.
“While our intention was to launch each of them as solos, we felt he was the first one who was ready,” says Le Roux.
Thanjakwayo and Motaung passed away, and now General is the last surviving member of Chiskop.
Mandoza set on his solo path and released the groundbreaking 9II5 Zola South album. It spawned the hit single Uzoyithola Kanjani, which featured General. “Uzoyithola
Kanjani is my favourite Mandoza song and not because I’m featured on it,” says General.
“When we made the song, we didn’t know how it would impact people. Amajita ekasi (guys in the hood) didn’t have jobs at that time but they told us that when the song came out, they got up from the corner and went and looked for jobs. It was inspirational.”
Another anthem – albeit for the nation and not just for the corner – came in the form of
Nkalakatha. Le Roux vividly remembers how the song was created. He says: “My studio was still in my house in Fish Hoek, Cape Town, at the time. Mandoza was sitting outside in the garden just thinking of lyrics and I was in the studio messing around with some basslines on the keyboard.
“A lot of people think that famous Nkalakatha bass sound is a rock guitar but it’s not. It’s actually an organ and I just edited it to sound very aggressive like rock. I was playing around with that sound on the sampler and came across that riff. He came rushing into the room and said: ‘Bra Gabs! This is gonna be big!’
“I didn’t realise I had created a monster riff. As soon as he started to put the lines in there and funny enough, it was one of the songs that happened so quickly. We had the basic structure in two-anda-half hours. I suppose it was divine intervention and the ancestors were smiling on us that day.”
The multi-South African Music Award-winning Nkalakatha went on to sell in excess of 350 000 units, making Mandoza a platinum-selling artist. He released a well-selling album a year. There was Godoba then
Tornado then Sgelegeqe (the first single that wasn’t produced by Le Roux but by DJ Cleo) and then in 2004, Mandoza collaborated with pop crooner Danny K on an album called Same Difference.
“Coke was doing the CocaCola Collab TV series and they put Mandoza and I together to do a song called Music,” Danny K reminisces. “We just loved working with each other. We were so different. Thanks to that show, we realised this weird mix of genres and personalities was resulting in something pretty cool.
“So EMI and Gallo did a joint venture and the album went gold within a week. It was a different time in the country because collabs across the colour lines were still quite unique.”
That album scooped the Sama for Best Pop Album as well as a Channel O Music Award. By the time Mandoza released Phunyuka Bam
phethe in 2005, the music landscape was changing.
Artists were no longer selling as well as they used to and the paparazzi culture was growing. Soon, Mandoza became tabloid headline fodder and in 2008, he was involved in a car accident that claimed two people.
Curwyn Eaton, who managed Mandoza from 2009 to 2015, says the only thing that helped Mandoza rise above his adversities was making more music. It was only on his 13th album, Sgantsontso (released in 2013), that the kwaito star started to feel like the public was receptive to him again.
But Mandoza was plagued by illness and was frequently in hospital.
He is survived by his wife Mpho and three children.
His was the crossover hit that grabbed the nation after 1994