While some budding musicians dream of being signed by big record labels and appearing on TV, Simbone Qabo, born and bred in Mdantsane just outside East London, dreams of owning his own record label and marketing himself as a praise poet, musician and neo-acoustic guitarist.
While some budding musicians dream of being signed by big record labels and appearing on TV, Simbone Qabo, born and bred in Mdantsane just outside East London, dreams of owning his own record label and marketing himself as a praise poet, musician and neo-acoustic guitarist.
In recent years, Qabo has made headlines in magazines such as FreeRiddim, as well as scooping first prize in the SABC 2 Lentswe poetry project in the HIV/AIDS category, for his Xhosa poem titled Utshaba. Winning the SABC 2 Lentswe project didn’t fully satisfy this inspirational artist and simply fuelled him to work harder.
This talented artist continues to heal troubled souls with his rich vernacular poetry and music. “My music is an antidote for dying souls,” he says. In a space of two years, he has released two albums; his first one was titled Unendleb’nj’ Unetyala, which he says sold exceptionally well.
Distributing his merchandise proved to be difficult since he has no distribution company and is still unsigned. His latest serving is another eight-track album titled Ikamva Leengcinga. “This album is titled after the novel that my father was still writing when he died. The song Kwanele is a true story of what happened to my father and the man that he was at home, not what people saw on the streets.”
Simbone’s father died in 2005 of a pancreatic disease. “My father’s death traumatised us deeply; it was so sudden and so unexpected even though we knew he was gravely ill because he had not eaten for 30 days. But we never expected him to be taken away from us so soon. My father was also an artist but was very private about his craft, my album is in honour of my father and it is my dream to finish off where he started,” he said.
On his album Ikamva Leengcinga, Simbone features producers such as DJ Tulz, Kokie D, Myth, and vocalist Mangaliso. His favourite songs on the album are Kwanele, Xola, Egoli and Kwazakhele. Lithakazi Mahaga, a fan of Simbone says, “The last album was ok, he was making people socially aware though the beats were under par which was a disappointment”.
“Simbone is always on top of his game when he performs live”, says another fan.
This album is available at Music Mix in the Vincent African Music store in Cape Town as well as by post. It costs R90 in stores and R70 if purchased directly from him. For album orders contact Simbone at 073-095 7944. – WSU-SNA
