Mercy, Slindile Steal The Limelight

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Correspondent | Monday March 29, 2010 00:00

The stocky musician who has just dropped her debut album Uyinkosi has natural instinct to move crowds with her dance moves on stage, but her deep voice is no doubt her best asset.

It makes the listener believe that everybody can sing when in actual fact that is not the case. Though she has performed at a few Splash shows around the country before the release of the album, the light-in-complexion musician was in her real element at Molapowabojang Recreational Park on Saturday. Steadily, she is forcing herself among the stable's favourite artists and established acts like Patricia Majalisa, Don B, Peacock as well as Dalom Kids should watch out.

A versatile artist that she is, Slindile's gospel mixes Afro Pop and reggae beats. In her stage performances she changes her dance from House moves, Afro pop dance, reggae and disco and this is fast-bringing her legions of fans.

Her confidence seems to grow with each performance. At her recent performance she presented a powerful stage presence forcing even those sections of the audience who had tried to ignore to get straight to the dance floor and follow her tune.  The title track Uyinkosi was just what the fans needed to get into that groovy mood and in no time everybody was scrambling for whatever available space to show off their own dancing skills.

But give credit to local disco sensation Mercy M. The skinny sister opened the show in a big way - and credit to her for a good choice of songs, Lorato and Katlego the two mid-tempo tracks, and that imposing bass line. Her dancer Nonofo Pule's carefree attitude on stage quickly rubbed off on Mercy and in no time the duo had the fans in awe with some raunchy dance routines.

Another local who put up a sterling performance was Linda, another female disco musician, but though she could not move the crowds the same way Slindile and Mercy did, Linda showed a lot of improvement from her previous appearances. This time around the Serowe-born musician displayed much confidence and composure in front of the fans with some immaculate dancing characterised by free spirit and some teasing smiles directed at the crowd.    

Other groups also gave the big crowd something to talk about even months after the show, but perhaps it was Dan Tshanda's appearance in the early hours of Sunday morning as is now tradition, that quickly brought back the fading spark from the show.  To the Splash fans Tshanda is the brand that they follow around and just an appearance on stage throws his fans into a frenzy before he can even start singing. Either by default or design, it is now common that his songs form a 'string' with no breaks in between the songs, something which ensures that the rhythm continues uninterrupted until such a time when the ace producer chooses to break a little and talk to his fans.