Linda proves she's in a class of her own

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Correspondent | Tuesday June 17, 2008 00:00

Just the opening track Machesa demonstrates what a pantsula the Serowe born musician is.

Machesa are the type of shoes synonymous with pantsula jive. Those who like wearing the light shoes have often been mistaken for pick pockets. However, it does not signal your dancing talent by just putting on those shoes.

That is the point Linda is trying to put across in her track. She even volunteers free dancing lessons to a guy who assumes that his Machesa is a sign of good dancing. The song illuminates the musician's versatility, able to change tunes several times in just one song, as well as her sharp voice. But perhaps she should have toned down a little because her voice does not need to be raised that high to produce a good pitch, hence she seemed to go over the instrumentals in this one.

'Music makes me complete, it consoles me when I am down and puts the spark back into my life, disco music especially has always been my thing. That is why I have never done any job apart from music,' she said.

My number 1 is a six-track album, which should do for both type of disco followers, those who are into the township fast-paced tunes as well as those who like the laid back type of disco, which is dominated by heavy bass drums and keyboards.

Track number four, Ke bale, will obviously have a lot of fans asking for more in the next few months. It combines a good mixture of instrumentals and well arranged lyrics and should have any disco fans with the urge for message in song, listening keenly.

It is in this number that Linda was able to take full control of her voice especially in the chorus when she and producer Garry Magro, who also backed in some of the songs, fused their voices well to come up with a melodies-track, which allows to a slow jive on your couch.

It is in this track that the budding producer fully expressed himself, he should be proud of his work and this is one track that has the potential to help launch his career. Even in sessions when the lyrics stop playing the song does not lose the listener's attention for once because the background instruments like the lead keyboard still gives you the satisfaction of a complete song.

This is strictly a project between two people, Linda and Magro because Linda says: 'I did not want to find myself trying to get someone to sing this part that way and when she does not do what I want, I appear like I am being arrogant and bossy. Rather I would sing in different voices to provide female backing voices while Magro provided the male voice and it is just fine.'

Linda has been around for some time, contrary to what people who only recently heard her new album, think. She has been on the music scene for 10 years most of which she spent as a back-up singer. Admittedly it is that popular, her first project, Play Boy was a good piece of work but due to poor marketing it did not push her many notches up the popularity stakes. This coupled with the fact that disco has been shadowed by other genres like kwasa kwasa, Afro pop and kwaito has not helped her cause.

'I used to back Patricia Majalisa during the time when she had problems with Dan Tshanda and I also played with Cheek to Cheek, Double Sledge and many other groups and then came the time when I decided that I was ready to lead,' Linda said. She believes she could have gone far if she had taken her music seriously earlier in her career. In fact, she conceded that she nearly gave up when things seemed wrong but her natural love for singing drove her straight back to the studio.

'Disco music has not seen justice by radio stations and as an artiste you tend to lose focus when you hear this and that musician enjoying a lot of air play but then again it is up to us the artistes to take it upon ourselves to ensure that our music grows,' she noted. But one other thing which nearly derailed Linda's train was lack of support from family members in the earlier days. She was born in a very respected Sekgoma family in Serowe and due to perceptions about disco music being for those who lack principles, they did not want to hear of her taking that route.

'The reason I have been able to do a better album this time around is because I have my family's full support, they are no longer putting pressure on me to do gospel or anything,' she said. Linda recently got married to her long time sweetheart, hence her change of surname from Sekgoma to Linda Kgosiemang and she is happy that her husband, who is in a different industry altogether, is very supportive of her career.

'The travelling takes its toll but he is a disco fan and understands that the only way to make it is if I actually take opportunities coming my way.

I would not allow anyone to stop me from following my passion. But it is a good thing that he has not tried to stop me from doing music,' she said.