Interview
Lovemore Majaivana

T. Nkabinde-A few years ago you were in the newspapers criticizing the record
companies for what you saw as their lack of support for local musicians.
How can this be resolved?

Lovemore Majaivana -I must say that ZMC have in fact done a lot of good for the music industry
in this country. My earlier criticism was misplaced it was my ignorance,
I'm mature, more experienced than at that time.

T.N.-How is it so?
L.M.-Look, the record company does not charge you a cent to record, press,
advertise and distribute.They cover all those expenses, and it is a calculated risk.
What if the record is a flop?The risk in fact is very high because our market is small.
Here you talk of only 5000sales while say in America a star can sell as much as
3 million records.

T.N.-What are the royalties like?
L.M.-It depends really with the individual artist, they are not uniform, and so they vary say
between 8% and 15%,those are the figures that I remember.

T.N.-Your sound changed when you left Jobs, the unique sound that you had developed with
Jobs was lost in the new outfit you joined, the Zulu Band.
L.M.-No, the sound did not change, what changed was the tempo.

T.N-But the Champ Band song "Thula wenhliziyo" is more typical of the original
sound that you played.
L.M-You must remember that I played with those guys, you remember Fanyana Dube.

T.N.-Are you happy with the support you have got?
L.M.-I would say yes,I would say no. You know the jackal looks after its own. I can’t be bitter
because in the first place I don’t know what $50,000 is like. But the people in Bulawayo kept
me strong with their moral support, they did not let me crumble even in the darkest of hours.
There was a time I nearly abandoned everything. But the crowds here are excellent.

T.N- Would you define traditional music?
L.M.-Scots music is traditional, they have traditional instrument to create modern music.
Thomas(Mapfumo) is traditional. I play play traditional music. But I spice it up. To make
old wine you don’t have to have old grapes.

T.N.-Ever heard about Sabelo Mathe and Josaya Hadebe?
L.M.-Of course what do mean, if they had not lived I wouldn’t be here myself.
Sabelo and Josaya are the pioneers of this music. What I did was to broaden it.
I think this is what it should be like, the young and up-coming artist will take from me one
day and broaden the sound, experiment further.

T.N.-The language issue, what is your answer to that?
L.M.-You sing in the language that best expresses your feelings. T
hings are not as serious when you say them in English than they really are.

T.N.-How many albums have you so far?
L.M.-I have six. But they could have been more, I am not of commercial value.
My message is going to be around for a very long time. What happens to me in
10 years' time if I released two albums a year. I want to around for as long as I can.
Sour grapes? I don’t miss the record sales. I have not earned gold.

T.N.-Traditional music in South Africa has been disdained as apartheid music because
it tended to reinforce tribal sentiment and philosophy.
L.M.-I did not choose to sing this music. My elders thought I should sing this type of music.
And so I see myself as just kink in long chain that must discharge the duty of teaching our
youth their culture. For example I don’t know Njele myself, but when a child hears that
song, he will ask what it is. Njelele is an important part of our culture.

Interview
Paddy Ndlovu, - keyboards

Themba Nkabinde- You are a star, how does this affect your life?
PN- When most people see me and other musicians they think that our life is rosy.
It is not, society is dishonest, the people love us only on the stage.
Who talks to me after I live the stage?

TN-How exactly do you mean?
PN- Look, society despises us, they say we are drunks and we are drug dependent,
but tell me, all those people we read about in the papers daily being fined in the
courts for pushing drugs, how many are musicians? It is society that is corrupt
and dishonest. I don’t tell people in town that I'm a musician. I get hurt when t
hey visibly ignore you or say" Oh, so how are you?", but rush to ask more
questions to the guy who said he worked for Grinaker or some other company.
I can’t marry. A girlfriend broke with me after a letter from her brother warned
her off from a good-for nothing" abantu bamakatali". You would show the same
attitude to me if you did not happen to know me. Women would rather get
married to garden boys. This is why even in Britain, musicians marry among
themselves. Here I can’t get an account facility from Sales House, or from
Beverly building Society. I have become rather like a sponge to absorb all
the shit that society arrogantly pours on me.

TN-Has the nation shown no appreciation of the role that music has played
in the revolution, the social changes that followed independence?
PN-No. Look, who understands the importance of music? If anybody had
cared, they would not have closed Kwanongoma. There was everything to
promote music, a well-developed infrastructure that was well funded by the
Lutheran Church. I would not be playing live here to make a living, I would
be teaching. Alport Mhlanga went into economic exile in Botswana, and a
nother young man has gone to Cuba.

Interview
Ernie Konson

T.N.-You play Lovemore's music every Saturday here at the Grey's Inn,
you like Lovemore's music then?
E.K-Yes, I do.

T.N-When did you start liking Lovemore's music?
E.K-It was in 1978,on the the release of his first song, "Vuka Jona".
It was good, man. I knew this was the music for me.

T.N- What are your own plans as a recording artist?
E.K-I am recording on Monday here in Bulawayo, a single called "Amadolo Adiniwe".

T.N-No, you cant be serious, I mean that sounds like Lovemore's
"Emagumeni", amadolo adiniwe.
E.K-So you see what I mean when I say I liked Lovemore’s style.
Tell him that I pay 2% of the money that I make here playing his
music to Zimra.