Triumphs and tragedy of a dreamer
Percy Mabandu considers the troubled rise and death of gospel singer Lundi Tyamara
AWEEK ago, reality caught up to fake news and rumour mills with the death of gospel star Lundi Tyamara. It was the painful conclusion of a dance of triumphs and trips with drink and drugs in the life of a daring dreamer.
Since he burst onto the music scene as a lanky teen sensation, he had to fight for the meaning of his life.
Media coverage of Tyamara, 38, oscillated between calling him an inspirational striver and a tragic drug-beaten celebrity. He would struggle with deciding what part of his life was public and what was private.
The star lived with the reality of sociologist David Riesman’s observation that “the city engenders lonely crowds”. That’s never more true than when it relates to stars and entertainers who live their lives in the limelight, fawned over by strangers and fans. The result is a tragic paradox that Tyamara struggled with to his dying day.
In his last interview, Tyamara declared: “I have learnt not to entertain any negative things said about me. I have experienced enough darkness in my life and I won’t allow the media to make a public spectacle of my life any more.”
It’s a lament about stardom’s sacrifice of any semblance of privacy. Their most tragic moments are often drained of human significance. Like Tyamara, they are reduced to tabloid fodder and macabre entertainment for the fans they spend much of their lives toiling to please. Families of dead stars are often unequipped to deal with this.
“We are still trying to come to terms with his death. We ask for space to mourn our brother in peace,” said his grieving sister Nocawe Tyamara to gawking cameras and microphones.
She could not have known it would end like this when her bright-eyed brother began his climb to stardom amid the euphoria of the mid1990s. One of five siblings, including a brother and three sisters, the singer left Worcester in the Western Cape, where they were born, for the promise of big-city lights. In his mid-teens, Tyamara was joining the exodus of dreamers leaving the Boland town in search of a better day. Like comedian Shimmy Isaacs, who at the time headed to the Mother City, Tyamara was barely 16.
Arriving in Johannesburg, he joined gospel star Rebecca Malope as a backup singer. He began gaining attention around 1996 when Malope recorded her Live at The State Theatre DVD. They shared the stage with Hugh Masekela, who had recently returned from exile, and the late Vuyo Mokoena, who was also on the rise. Tyamara was noticed by an enterprising record producer and talent
scout, Tshepo Nzimande. They hit it off and formed a partnership that would lead to the release of Tyamara’s debut record as a solo singer, Mphefumlo Wami. The album sold about 380 000 copies. It was the start of a rise that would include record sales well over three million units.
In 2003, Tyamara won a Kora Award for best male gospel artist and in 2008 he won the best African traditional gospel category at the South African Music Awards.
He received praise, but was also chided for sounding like his mentor, Malope.
But the big times had arrived. He brushed off the criticism and made hit after hit.
Then rumours began that he was struggling with drugs. The gospel prodigy gained a new nickname, “Bad Boy of Gospel”.
At the memorial service, Nzimande recalled: “When it was discovered that he had a drug problem, he called me to his house at 2am and showed me a small plastic bag with the drugs he was taking. He confessed to me that this was what finished his money and made him behave badly.”
Tyamara’s struggle with drugs became tabloid fodder. In 2003 he made headlines when he was admitted to a rehabilitation centre. In July of that year he appeared distraught on national TV. He said that his time in rehab had not helped. He pleaded with then-president Thabo Mbeki to rescue him from his addiction.
Others suggested he undergo traditional Xhosa initiation, which he did. Breaking with the code of secrecy, he invited cameras to his boma on the mountain to talk about his experience.
Though he self-identified as a gay man, Tyamara leaves two teenage children, a son and a daughter.
In 2015 he again made tabloid headlines, this time for breaking up a marriage. He had reportedly maintained a long-standing affair with a married woman and fathered a child with her. He was even said to have had an affair with socialite and TV personality Somizi Mhlongo. “Lundi Tyamara’s lover Somizi Mhlongo heartbroken,” screamed headlines following the singer’s death.
After a short slump, Tyamara returned to music. In 2015 he performed at a concert in Gold Reef City’s Lyric Theatre. It was billed The Best of Lundi. Soon afterwards, images of a frail and ill Tyamara surfaced on social media. There followed photographs of him in Edenvale Hospital, a private pain made public.
Prayer gatherings and tributes were organised. In the end Tyamara lost a battle with abdominal tuberculosis and a liver condition. HITTING HIGH NOTES: Lundi Tyamara puts all his emotion into a song
Images of a frail and ill Tyamara surfaced. There followed photographs of him in hospital, a private pain made public