‘The big fish’ on his musical journey and talent search in
Mpumalanga province.
By Cherrol Skosana
Award-winning,
legendary gospel singer, Sipho Makhabane gives back to his community with his
search for raw talent in Mpumalanga. “I’ve been discovering artists from other
provinces, it’s time to take it home,” he says.
MUSICAL JOURNEY
Known for unearthing new talent in the gospel industry,
Sipho Makhabane has released over 30 albums in his music career. Speaking to Move! , he says one of the things that kept him going is that he
never allows circumstances to determine his future. “I struggled like many
artists, started by doing odd construction jobs before I could receive my
breakthrough in the industry”. There was
point in his life where his home was burnt and he was left with nothing but the
clothes he was wearing then. Sipho had to drop out of school and do odd jobs in
construction so that he can maintain a living. By God’s grace, he became a
technician at Telkom, where he developed passion for gospel.
His breakthrough came in 1992 when he released his
big-selling album Yek’intokozo. This
is the album that gained him recognition and opened many doors for him. Sipho
began to produce his own music on his third album and from then onwards he
produced all his albums. With only grade
5 education he has done well for himself and many other artists in the
industry.
DISCOVERING RAW
TALENT
His first talent search was in Swaziland, the first artist
to discover was UShongwe and Khuphuka
Saved Group back in 1999. Followed by Ncandweni Christ Ambassadors, France
Dlamini (Khuz’izono), these were the
first three groups he discovered and developed.
“I then jumped to South Africa and discover Hlengiwe Mhlaba , Thobekile,
Israel Mosehla, Tshepiso Motaung to name a few. This are people from different
provinces, it’s time to prioritize the search to my province,” he shares. This
is a development project that continues to grow, he has been working with
Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation.
The lessons he learnt along the way, was that he mustn’t
compete with anyone. If there’s a talent he sees, he must develop it. “That’s
when I started to develop artists, I made my own theme-discover, develop,
expose. I am proud, some of the artists
now have their companies, it’s a nice thing because I am not competing with
them rather complementing them and provide assistance where I can” he explains.
Sipho has successfully managed to develop about 45 young
people from Mpumalanga to form a group called Mpumalanga Praise. The praise team has released 2 albums
already, Mpumalanga Praise volume one and volume two. “I’m still working hard
to raise these kids and I’m inviting business people who would like to assist
us with a bus. Before I die, I have a
wish to see the Mpumalanga Praise band grow and on other level,” he says.
This project is to help all the young people who are
unemployed. He also shares future plans for it saying he would like to see it
expand and ask for fellow brothers and sisters who are doing other genres to
also come when conducting auditions for talent search. “I want to give every
child from Mpumalanga a chance not only for gospel but other genres as well,”
he concludes.
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