Langalakhe Mabena
Covid-19 has negatively affected many artistes in all corners of the world and South African kwaito kingpin Sandile Mapaputsi Ngwenya of the Izinja fame, is also feeling the heat.
The Soweto-born star successfully launched his new Ama-Piano influenced single titled Indoda last week and he had an interview with local Skyz Metro FM host Babongile Sikhonjwa on his breakfast show.
“We can no longer continue with the interview mfethu, angisena data (my friend am out of data),” said Mapaputsi in less than five minutes of the interview with Sikhonjwa via a WhatsApp call from Johannesburg.
It is not a secret that Mapaputsi was struggling to make ends meet. In 2013 Mapaputsi fell on hard times and his late friend Mandoza came to the rescue. As if that was not enough, in 2016 Mapaputsi was reported to be a chef at Oskido’s co-owned Kalawa Jazmee stable.
To quickly handle the issue and keep listeners glued to their seats, Sikhonjwa had to call Mapaputsi with a landline to continue the interview.
Asked on why he decided to return at this dark hour with the Covid-19 cloud engulfing the world, Mapaputsi revealed that he felt like doing something and that gave birth to the single.
“I have been quiet for a while now so I decided to bounce back in the industry with this banger (Indoda single). I appreciate the way the younger generation of the likes of Kabza De Small are changing the face of music.
“I am and I will die a kwaito artiste because the genre made me. However, on this project I adopted the Ama-Piano feel because I appreciate the craft, the genre is bringing back the original kwaito tempo,” said Mapaputsi.
On the interview, Mapaputsi also touched on issues that involve telling the tales of dead Kwaito friends from Mandoza, Brown Dash as well as the convicted Brickz.
He acknowledged the mistakes they made when they were young which made some of them die with nothing or age broke.
“I think we were young by then, most of these artistes (Brown Dash, Brickz) were part of my production company Izinja back then. We had little investment knowledge that’s why most of us at some point in our careers fell on hard times.
“However, there is still a chance in life and personally am working on correcting those faults and try to better myself in the music scene,” said Mapaputsi.
