ABOUT THIS MUSICIAN
The talented singer and producer is juggling a show and an album
THE MUSIC of Samkelo Mdolomba, 29, better known as Samthing Soweto may be many things, but average is not one of them.
The Soweto-born acappella vocalist and producer celebrates almost 10 years in the business of making music, and says this journey has helped him perfect his art and value his talents as a musician.
He has worked with fellow Afro Soul artists The Soil on their debut album; produced tracks of an album for The Legacy, an acappella group that recently won South Africa’s version of The SingOff.
He has also created a title sequence for the soapie Rhythm City and worked with industry royalty such as Kabomo and Tumi Molekane.
His music can easily take the listener on an emotional journey, and he describes making it as a painstaking process to create a collection of sounds reflective of whatever subject he’s writing about or emotion he’s expressing in the music, be it love or his beloved Soweto.
“Normally I only release the fifth version of whatever I’m working on. I want to make it better all the time, and it’s only when the people with me say ‘stop, that version is great!’ that I finally release it,” Mdolomba said.
When The Star met the musician during his rehearsal at Joburg’s The Plat4orm for his upcoming An Evening With Samthing Soweto show at the Soweto Theatre on February 25, Mdolomba was everything you experience him to be on his social media platforms – warm, friendly, the consummate musician.
Speaking of the show and the upcoming album, he said it was a combination of two projects, with the former being a chance for him to connect with fans and release new material.
“Creatively the two events are not connected. The show is my latest offering that I am going to take around the whole year to different parts of the country.
“The music I’m recording is so hot that I am not going to make it pretty – it’s going to have the same amount of love and care, but it’s going to be real,” he said.
The new album, the title of which is being withheld in order to build anticipation, will feature new material.
Mdolomba credits his band for the fire and inspiration that’s behind it.
The show, on the other hand, will feature some of his old material but reworked to take the listener by storm, in the calm, mellow vibe that Mdolomba has become known for.
Having been an independent artist also means that Mdolomba has had to learn some hard lessons about the business of music, but he has taken it in his stride.
The show is to be held at the Soweto Theatre on February 25.
After the break-up of the band he joined, The Fridge, and the release of his new album as well as the nationwide tour to promote it, are providing a chance for Mdolomba to rebrand himself and to introduce himself to new markets.
His music, he says, is “Dreams. It’s warmth on a summer’s evening with beautiful stars.”