Mlindo The Vocalist would be the first to say he wasn’t ready for the mammoth success of his debut album, Emakhaya. Imgae: Supplied
Mlindo The Vocalist would be the first to say he wasn’t ready for the mammoth success of his debut album, Emakhaya.
Released in 2018 amid the inescapable radio presence of female pop stars Shekhinah and Lady Zamar, Emakhaya was a breath of fresh air that perfectly blended the traditional and the modern in a way not seen before or since. It was an exercise in lucid storytelling that saw a 22-year-old Mlindo (real name Lindokuhle Mgedeza) pay homage to his ancestors, share his experience moving from his hometown of Port Shepstone to find success in Johannesburg, and his complex relations with women.
Over the subsequent years, Emakhaya became a commercial phenomenon, earning Mlindo the South African Music Award for Best Selling Artist in 2020 and 2021. And he might well win it again this year.
Gripped by the pressure of his immediate success, Mlindo decided to call his latest project Lindokuhle, which was recently released as an EP.
“I had some thoughts about calling it an album,” he explains. “But when I was comparing it to Emakhaya I felt like for an album I needed that spirit, that energy I had with Emakhaya because most of these songs were made during lockdown. So I was kind of looking for that actual energy of, ‘Now I’m actually focusing on an album.’ For me, the album thing is not just having a lot of songs and then choosing from there and then saying it’s an album. It has to be a collective vibe.”
Mlindo tells me this story outside of a visual studio in Randburg where he’s shooting the cover art and promotional images for Lindokuhle. The place is bustling with activity as Sony Music label personnel handle last minute preps and many of his childhood friends roam around, laughing, chatting and helping keep Mlindo relaxed off set. They all have roles in his team, he explains. Some are part of his band, and others help him run his day-to-day business affairs.
Thinking back to Emakhaya, Mlindo recalls he fasted and travelled down to Port Shepstone in order to connect spiritually and be able to deliver the pure and authentic music he wanted to create on the project. In contrast, many of the songs on Lindokuhle were made during lockdown at his home studio.
In an attempt to escape from the darkness of the pandemic that he found was consuming him, Mlindo once again went home to Port Shepstone two years ago. He recharged his batteries by spending time with his mom and family as he tried to figure things out, working with unknown hometown artists and hanging out with high school friends, an experience he credits for bringing him down to earth.
“It was a process of growing up for me. From Emakhaya, I got famous very young. I didn’t know anything. So this EP is just the journey of growing up: the gigging, the travelling, I put it all in this music. But the feeling is still the Emakhaya way because I didn’t want to have something that was going to be different. The message is still there.”
When he started to achieve success in 2018, he bought his mom, who was unemployed, a house to live in with his brothers and sisters and he had to constantly send money home. But the pressure of being the family’s breadwinner started to weigh on him. “I had to learn the hard way. Even these things of ancestors and stuff, I wasn’t focused on that so I had to go down that route. I’ve grown up now. This thing of sitting down with elders and stuff and just knowing how to live and behave as a male figure and taking care of the family and stuff like that. I’ve grown from that Mlindo of Emakhaya.”
He admits that he got caught up in the music industry so much so that he found himself neglecting his family duties. “I had to actually relax and be a person and be there for my family and the ceremonies back home because I was just sending them money, I was never there. I had to take that step for me to grow as a person and realise that I have to be there as a male figure in the family … I had to leave the entire life, not this thing of actually just Mlindo the famous guy. I had to tap into that, real life.”
This experience pays dividends on Lindokuhle as the afro soul star finds his rhythm again. With stellar guest contributions from the likes of Ami Faku, Sjava and Nue_Sam, the project is cut from the same cloth as its predecessor and may well see him continue on its success.
Interestingly, as the project’s roll-out started to take shape earlier this month, label promotional materials described Lindokuhle as his sophomore album, as opposed to an EP, as Mlindo himself had described to me. Perhaps he had a change of heart as time wore on, or the label chose to market it as such.
Earlier this year, DJ Maphorisa, the super-producer with whom Mlindo worked closely on Emakhaya and to whom he initially signed with for its release, took to Facebook to reveal how he felt Mlindo had backstabbed him. “It’s so crazy how people will backstab you,” said Phori. “Mlindo the Vocalist came to Jozi. He didn’t know anyone and I had to get him a road manager.” Phori went on to add that Mlindo and his road manager, Nyiko, had cut off his percentage despite Mlindo being contractually bound to Phori’s label, Blaqboy Music. Despite this, he added that Mlindo had “repented” and was once again a part of his label. “I still love him,” he added. “He’s my boy. We all make mistakes and we are going to make the next project.”
I ask Mlindo how he and Phori mended their relationship and if they’re now on good terms. “After that statement he made online, I called him to actually apologise. It was more of a misunderstanding because there were third parties involved that came between me and Phori. They ended up saying things on my behalf that I wasn’t aware of. I had to explain my side of the story and apologise to him.”
Phori let bygones be bygones and the two swiftly went back into the studio and started working again. “It was a relief to me because I was feeling as though I’d lost him. It was a very humbling moment for him to allow me to sit with him again.”
It was during this studio session that they linked up and worked on Umuzi Wethu, one of the standout cuts on Lindokuhle.
The title of the project speaks to experiences such as these that have seen him coming back to himself and finding his way again. “I used my name because I feel it speaks about me, what ‘’ve been through these past four years as I haven’t been releasing anything. So it’s all the challenges I was going through and everything that happened to me and how Covid treated me. It’s basically just me telling my story.”