Tsholotsho boy seeks to enter house music niche
GROWING up in the remotest areas of Tsholotsho with brothers who made and played guitars out of cooking oil containers is just the amount of inspiration that 24-year-old Muziwandile Khumalo needed to try and carve a career out of music.
Khumalo, better known as Dama in underground music circles, works as a clerk at a Bulawayo law firm but says his heart has always been in music.
“I grew up around people who appreciated music. My brothers were very musical people and they taught me to play the guitar. It was not until 2009 when I moved to Bulawayo that I realised how much that had influenced me, I realised I wanted music to be my full-time job,” said Dama.
Dama who has been in and out of music circles since 2009 specialises in house music and has to his name one album entitled Summer Time and six singles to date. He describes his style of music as a universal one that can be enjoyed by all people regardless of their age.
The up-and-coming artiste said that he chose house music because he felt it was the genre that would resonate most with his local audience in Bulawayo and eventually hopefully make it across the border to South Africa where house is one of the most prominent genres.
“I could have done any other genre of music but I figured people of Bulawayo love house music. However, I try not to make my music monotonous, I keep it diverse, soulful and versatile while it still remains within the confines of house music. That way, people who do not necessarily enjoy house music are still able to enjoy my music, he said. His latest offering, Ngena Wena released a month back is a feel good track, with a beat that resembles something that the likes of Black Coffee could put together about having a good time and taking time out from everyday stresses of life. The video is a refreshing watch, shot in the streets of a local low-density suburb. It does not include the cliché choreography or video vixens that have become the norm with most local artistes. Ngena Wena is the joint effort of Dama with Melloworks Studios for production as well as the works of Shirati Drums. The track, like all of Dama’s works is distributed for free on social media and other online platforms.