Doing it all for the love of the music. . .

Instead of just following his heart, singer and producer, Tellaman, brought his mind along for the ride too, writes

WHEN we meet on a sunny day in Jozi, Durban’s Thelumusa “Tellaman” Owen is dressed down in an army fatigue shirt. But he’s not warring with anyone.

Instead, through his Mind vs Heart mixtape and the slew of songs on which he’s featured – most of which are doing the rounds on radio – Tellaman is establishing himself as a lover, not a fighter.

The mixtape is all about love. Love for women. Love for money. Love for the game. It traverses what the kids are now calling trapsoul as well as straight R&B and dance music.

Except, even when he interpolates the vocal stylings of what’s hot in the States, he’s still singing a lot of it in Zulu. This is just an extension of what he started when he signed to an iconic dance music label back in 2013.

Through Soul Candi, Tellaman got to curate an entire CD in the Soul Candi Sessions 16 compilation, which was released in October 2014. He tells me: “I was signed to Soul Candi only for one year. It was one of my ways to learn new things. I’d never signed an artist contract before. I did one project with them.

“I produced and wrote and basically did everything on my Soul Candi Sessions 16 disc. I only had three features: Okmalumkoolkat, Skye Wanda and Lastee. I had production from the likes of Pascal Morais and John Miller.”

Of this experience, Tellaman says: “I learnt a lot. I left because I felt like we’d done everything we’d set out to do. I also like different sounds and I’m not one to stick to one genre or style of music. Soul Candi is a house label. I do house, but I do more than that.”

For most people, their first encounter with Tellaman is through his hit single, Drinks and Music, featuring Okmalumkoolkat. It was a feel-good house number about not having a care in the world as long as there’s a drink in his cup and this song on the radio.

Two years later, Tellaman released Mind vs Heart.