have entered their second year – with the same vigorous criticism from the new school as last year. Our journalists look at several of the categories and profile some of their favourites
Who does he think he is?
Maria McCloy on Joe Nina, Best Township Pop nominee
`I DON’T want to give people Ding Dong and Joy over and over again. I want to grow; tell different stories,” says Joe Nina, four years after his biggest hit to date, Ding Dong. That was a time when Mdu’s Tsiki Tsiki, Arthur’s Vuvuzela and Ding Dong were the theme tunes of a revolution that shifted South African youths’ music of choice from international to local.
It was great, says the 22-year-old (Henry Makhosini Xaba is his real name), who’s been on stage since his early teens – but the revolutionaries “forgot to move on … like writing a story and ending at the first paragraph.” To him, this is because artists are being driven by succesful formulas. Because of a sales-driven fear of experimenting, local dance music “is going nowhere”. He sees himself as an “avant garde musician”.
He can play the piano and he sings, but he adds: “My voice is just okay”. Still, as his representative put it, aside from being just another cute young crooner, Nina is also a “brilliant little producer”. He produced Brenda Fassie’s Kuyoze Kuyovalwa and even though the process was tempestuous, he’s full of admiration: “She can sing with her whole heart … Oh man, she’s brilliant. If I could take her to hospital and get rid of the mess in her head I’d do an album for her – for free if I had to.” He’s produced for Twins and for The Nina Brothers, LUV and La Fancy. He’d love to produce a new album for Miriam Makeba. Is that likely? “Ray Phiri’s spoken to her; we just need to schedule the time.”
Huh? Miriam? Ray Phiri? What happened to the theory that “the nu school” and “the old school” don’t see eye-to-eye? Nina is different. He proved it recently when he took the stage with Mara Louw, Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo … And hey, you’ll also see him at the forthcoming Benson and Hedges kwaito bash featuring Abashante and Skeem. After a fight with Arthur, they’re talking again and Nina may produce the next Abashante album.
So how does he define his music? “It’s disco fusion. If you listen to a kwaito song even your little brother can sing along. Which is nice, but for music lovers who want music to touch them, whether they’re dancing or not, there’s nothing there.” So what’s disco fusion? “A mixture of the pop African beat and a bit of jazz on the piano and maybe funk on bass”
The categories at this year’s Samas have once again come under fire for not representing the full South African music spectrum and for confusing the genres. There’s category L1 for Best Dance Music performance where Keenia, MIC and Qkumba Zoo are nominated. Category L2 is Best Township/Kwaito/Dance Music Performance where Mdu, Chicco and Twins are nominated. Finally, category N2 is Best Township Pop Performance where the nominees are Joe Nina, Mdu and Skeem.
What’s the difference? What makes Skeem township pop and Twins kwaito? If there is a difference how come Mdu is nominated for the same album in two categories? Arthur, the self- professed “king of kwaito”, as well as hit producers Kalawa Records (Boom Shaka, Trompies) have said the awards don’t represent what’s happening in South Africa and here Nina agrees: “How many kwaito artists are there on this list?”
The other nominees in Nina’s category, Mdu and Skeem, do represent some of the more interesting aspects of the scene, but even so there’s danger of stagnation. Skeem’s Ismail agrees that there is too much biting and lack of creativity and message in the form. But he adds that, in a way, the categorisation makes sense because “none of us [nominated] define our music as kwaito”. Skeem define their music as gong because the programming of a kwaito track is faster than a gong track. Nina talks about producing bass-heavy music called “gumba”, happy that at least at Sama his music isn’t labelled as kwaito.
Nina, like most of the new breed of producer, stresses his independence. He recently broke ties with Polygram Records because of lack of control of his product and has created Killer Joe Productions. This time round he will have a stronger influence over aspects the South African music industry neglects. Like specific marketing; artistic image; research and the crappy standard of local album cover design.
Before he was Joe Nina, he recorded as Sali Maya, King Rap and Hot Slot Machine. As a 14-year-old he got screwed by a record company that, at the end of the day, gave him R13 from an album. So he’s not interested in hiring poor, underage kids who’re dazzled by fame and get exploited while the producers coin it.
“I don’t want to be outspoken anymore,” says Nina. It’s caused people to label him “pompous”, but it seems he can’t help it. “I want to revolutionise this industry.” And the upcoming Phiri/Nina collaboration? “I am coming out with something very, very different – all they’re gonna say is `who does he think he is?’ “
The Sama awards will be held at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg this Saturday and can be seen on SABC1 on May 1 at 8.30pm