Suzy Bell Local music
For someone who candidly admits to never listening to the radio, to CDs or to watching television, it’s with total integrity that Madala Kunene can announce: “I’m not influenced by anyone.” It is Kunene’s poetic dreams that inspire him.
Take his song Abangoma, from his heavenly album Madala Kon’Ko Man. Kunene explains: “You know when you get a fright in your sleep and your body shakes and then you suddenly wake up? That’s what happened with Abangoma. I must have been inspired by my ancestors because I just got up, picked up my guitar and wrote the entire song.”
Kunene is very much in touch with his ancestry and, with his music based on divination rhythms, it sure tells. “It was my ancestors” he reasons, “that did not want me to go to school. They gave me a talent. So, instead of school, I played my music.”
Naturally, this annoyed his parents (his father is a school principal) but the beautiful irony is that it’s Kunene who’s now the teacher. His sublime trance music, a gentle fusion of maskanda, blues and rock is being taught to the children in KwaZulu-Natal. Just last week he held a music workshop for 86 children from Kloof.
It was a workshop to teach them guitar and Jewish harp. Although Kunene himself is highly accessible, his music is not. Kunene – who bought his first Belini guitar for 50 cents (or “five bob”) in the Sixties and cut his teeth on Hey Jude – has been highly successful touring Paris, Oslo, Vienna and London. Yet, back home in Chatsworth, his neighbours constantly ask: “But Madala, if you are so famous how come we can’t even buy your music at Ajmeri Arcade here in Durban?”
United Kingdom-based Melt 2000 are the producers of Kunene’s music as well as that of a host of other illustrious South African musicians like Busi Mhlongo, Pops Mohammed and Amapondo.
South African Melt 2000 agent Rajeev Gadoo blames local retail stores for not supporting local music. “We do have a small distribution problem in Durban. But what accentuates that problem is that a local retail shop would rather buy 5000 copies of Mariah Carey than Madala Kunene.”
But Durban-based Polygram’s representative Elaine Naidoo points out: “With a product like this there has to be exposure to enjoy increased sales.”
Said Ronnie Geselowitz, sales manager for Polygram South Africa: “It’s an age- old problem. No demand, no stocks in the stores. It is up to our sales reps to offer the music to a range of music stores, but it’s up to the retailer to decide whether he thinks the stock is worth investing in or not. It’s really up to the consumer to create the demand.”
Kunene himself focuses on the bigger picture: “I’m very happy with my record company, especially Robert Trance, head of Melt 2000. I think the real problem is that there is no minister of music. We need a minister. We also need a strong music union. It’s getting even harder to survive.
“If things don’t improve I may have to leave my home town. This could be the last year in Durban for me and I’m not the only local musician feeling this way. The other main reason is that when there are big music events in Durban the organisers pay bands from overseas and Johannesburg to come play.
“Did you know at the big birthday concert in Durban for Nelson Mandela, Sister Busi and I sat at home? In fact only one Durban band was chosen for a line-up of about 18 bands. We both would have loved to play at that gig.”
Thankfully Third Ear Music, a small but dynamic music production and publishing company in Durban, has been highly supportive of a number of local musicians like Kunene. If it weren’t for their tenacity, Kunene and many others would have left Durban long ago.
Peter Rorvick of Third Ear Music has organised Kunene’s gigs in Gauteng. Kunene’s first album was recorded with Dave Marks, head of Third Ear Music. He set up his first appointment with Tusk Records in the early Nineties.
Kunene recalls: “David Marks was very kind. He bought me a new jacket, new shirt, new shoes, and these really smart corduroy trousers because he knew how important it was, having my first meeting with recording professionals in Johannesburg.
“But no matter how much I gig, still the strangest most upsetting thing is that, although I’m a recorded artist now and I’ve toured internationally, it’s still so hard for people to find my music,” says a clearly exasperated Kunene.
Hopefully his latest album will be more freely available. It’s called Madalamax. “It’s a fusion of Max Laser from Switzerland and myself. Max has added a fresh element. His music is very African in style,” says Kunene.
The album will be released in November and Melt 2000 assures us it will be available at a record store near you. If not, contact Rajeev on (011) 802- 5905.
Madala Kunene will be performing at Kippies on August 7 and 8 and at Bassline on August 9 and at 8pm at the Oppikoppi music festival