GOSPEL DIGEST
OLANI Sithole is a humungous man with an even bigger voice to back it up. He is unmissable in a crowd and you can single out his voice in a choir. But with that stature comes a humble, laid-back man who loves music more than life itself.
“Just hold on for me, my brother, I will be with you now-now,” he said soon after answering the phone.
It took a few seconds and then he came back to chat.
“I am sorry about that. I just bumped into some people who know me from the Joyous Celebration days and they wanted to say hello,” he said nonchalantly.
That’s Sithole for you. Always accommodating and placing other people before himself. After all, humility is an integral part of being a gospel artist, let alone a Christian. But interestingly, when you listen to his solo debut album, Limitless, you will be glad to know that there is more to him than biblical messages.
“I know of many people who, like me, are doing only gospel songs, but I decided to do things differently on this project,” he said.
While there are songs like Joy, which talks of the effects of God’s love, there are also others like Ungaphindi which is a romantic
Xlove song,” he explained.
“There are expectations out there that I continue doing things the way people remember me doing in Joyous Celebration, but I also have other things that I wish to talk about. So in this album I do songs that people would ordinarily expect from a gospel musician, but I also deal with relationships that we have with our loved ones. Everyone has to go through love and heartbreak and so I don’t see anything wrong with talking about it. Also, God gave us the privilege to love one another, so we should talk about that too,” he said, laughing.
“Ungaphindi is like a last warning from a hurt lover to their loved one. They are forgiving them, but asking them not to do it again,” he said.
Both Joy and Ungaphindi are doing well on radio and Sithole plans to shoot music videos to go with the songs.
“I want to shoot the Joy video and another upcoming house song which is a remix of a much slower song I have on Limitless,” he said.
Given that he has paid his dues in the cut-throat music industry, Sithole has the licence to do whatever he feels like doing with his music. From 2005 to 2010 the man gave Joyous Celebration a soulful edge with hits like Bayete and Uphakeme.
Limitless will have fans yearning for more as the man blends jazz and Zulu music with Indian influences. Since it took them a year to produce Limitless, Sithole feels that it is the best work to come from him yet.
“We are pacing ourselves quite well and so every song got ample time, making the whole project a polished album,” he said.
When he is not busy making music, Sithole is a music director at his church, My Father’s House Christian Fellowship.
Limitless is available at your local music store.