M'du Masilela

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M'du Masilela aka 'The Godfather', aka ' Chomi Yabana' is a living legend in the music industry in South Africa. He is popularly known for the Kwaito music genre. Born in Zola South in 1970, M'du began his music aspirations on his grandmother's piano. As a young man in school, M'du created several groups. On completion of his metric studies he was performing with artists such as Pat Shange, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Sello 'Chicco' Twala. M'du and his long time pal and collaborator, Mandla 'Spikiri' Mofokeng formed MM Deluxe to showcase their talents by mixing township folk music with international dance music. This was evident in their first project, LA Beat using the assistance of producer and engineer, Peter Snyman.

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[edit] Production Talents

M'du briefly worked for CSR Records as a producer and engineer for Chicco, Dr Victor and Bayethe. In 1994, M'du created M'du Productions, which up to this date is a formidable force in the production of Kwaito music in South Africa. He went to form a group known as Mashamplani with countless hits such as 'Kumnandi' and 'Bokoloshe' and produce for the late MaWillies. He has collaborated with PJ Powers, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Vicky Sampson for a music video flighted at the United Nation's Assembly in Washington D.C. and Greece. In 1998 he recorded a remix of Days Like This by Kenny Lattimore a popular American R&B Singer. Recently he has been working with Mzekezeke, Kabelo Mabalane, Brown Dash. Apart from his group efforts and production commitments, M'du is a kwaito star on his own and his Cd's are guaranteed to be certified Platinum (selling more than 50 000 records), whenever he releases a record. He relaunched his record label M'du Records through a joint venture with EMI South Africa, the first album to be released was Ya Rocka taking it back to the kwaito flavour.

[edit] Personal Life

A quiet family man, M'du likes to keep his family life private. He has been married for 19 years to his high school sweetheart, Sarah Masilela who also runs a Management Company working alongside her husband. Together they have 3 children Dineo, Lebo and Andile.

[edit] M'du Productions

M'du Masilela's production company represents both the accomplishments of M'du himself and the progress of the new generation of South African musicians with regard to exploitative production companies. Indeed, African musical sensations have not always been in control of their franchises. According to an article from the 1998 edition of the Saturday Star called 'From 60's stars to 90's Beggars', the 40's, 50's and even 60's were rife with "systematically exploited black performers."[1] In response to this victimization, the new generation of South African artists plan to be proactive and avoid the mistakes of their predecessors. With an independent attitude, these performers have approached the more global companies quite skeptically, in an attempt to avoid at least one middleman in the music industry chain. Despite the fact that distribution will continue to be accessible to global companies like Sony, Masilela's decision to become a producer himself signifies "a growing black economic empowerment within the music industry."[2] Equally as important is the fact that in recruiting and producing his own talent, M'du creates very a very localized form of Kwaito music that can be identified with the South African township culture. In an interview with Aryan Kaganof, M'du asserts, "I wanted to do what I feel"[3] about his decision to become an independent producer. Later, he adds, "I don't think that the township culture will die out. It's still here in the suburbs, to us it's still the same. We've got a whole lot of black people living around here and to us it's our country in South Africa," which indicates that he identifies Kwaito music, his role as a key player in its production and the township culture all with one another. By producing for himself, M'du reasserts his South African identity in the context of global media companies.

[edit] Discography

  1. La Beat
  2. Ipompe (1996)
  3. Always Da Case (1997)
  4. M'Du or Die (1998)
  5. 24 Seven (1999)
  6. No Pas No Special (2000)
  7. The Godfather (2001)
  8. Ya Rocka (2004)
  9. C - Simple (2005)
  10. Believe it or not (2006)

[edit] External links

  1. ^ Dyantyi, Aurelia. "From 60's Stars to 90's Beggar's." Saturday Star. 3 Jan. 1998.
  2. ^ Coetzer. "Kwaito Shakes the Nation." in Magubane, Zine. “Globalization and Gangster Rap: Hip Hop in the Post-Apartheid City.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 225. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press
  3. ^ Kaganof, Aryan. "The Kwaito Story: M'du Masilela Interviewed by Aryan Kaganof." Kagablog. 6 Oct. 2006. Wordpress. 28 Feb. 2008. <http://kaganof.com/kagablog/2006/10/16/the-kwaito-story-mdu-masilela-interviewed-by-aryan-kaganof/>