Seven 11 lives on

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Staff Writer | Tuesday May 21, 2013 00:00

It has been 18 years since Seven 11 burst onto the music scene with an album called Ze Entry whose hit song, Mmasepoto, took the country by storm securing the new entrants performing slots along big giants like Brenda Fassie, Lucky Dube and Splash when the South African giants toured the country in the 90s.

However, Lebona and his band are yet to mellow into kwaito stars though the kwaito outfit have been maintaining their spot in the local entertainment business. The group started with four members in 1995 but all Lebona have ditched it for some other ventures. One of them is now a practising traditional doctor, another one a DJ while the third member who came from a business family is reported to be taking care of one of the family enterprises.

Despite these challenges he has encountered since he started in music, Lebona simply resisted the urge to quit and still dreams on. With five albums to its credit, Lebona believes Seven 11 could have done better.'Look I might have not climbed to the top of the ladder but I believe I have done fairly well in the circumstances. I have my own studio and have managed to buy three cars. It has been a hustle but I have managed to keep the grip,' he said stoutly.

Explaining his group's low recording rate since its inception, Lebona said that in their formative years the group was more into live performances than recording albums.  That coupled with the fact that three members later left limited the group's ability to tape more music. To sum up the challenges that his band has faced since formation, Lebona released an album called Last Man standing a year ago.

'This was a demonstration that Seven 11 will always be there. My face might disappear from the sleeves but the band will stand. The other members are gone but it continues to dish out albums,' he said. Lebona, who was born to a musician father, has worked with Hector Mailola of Sunshine Music in Pretoria who taught him a lot about the industry. 'I remember how he used to tell me that if I found a good producer I could make hits. A the time I did not even know what a hit was, I did not know that someone could make a lot more money selling CDs, but I realised by the number that we used to sell together. But perhaps I was blinded by what I used to make touring with the big stars because on completion of such tours I would bring home around P20, 000 and that was a lot of money in the 90s,' he said.

His second album and most successful, according to the musician, Elgordo, was born at Sunshine Studios and went on to sell over 10, 000 copies.  An adventurous man, the heavy musician who also holds a South African citizenship, was instrumental in setting up with the now Limpopo Beach Party four years ago as he tried to juggle between singing and events promoting.

Lebona still dreams of seeing the group do better while as producer he dreams of a compilation album under his stable by two of BotswanaÕs kwaito heavyweights, Mapetla and Vee, and South Africa's dynamites Mzambia and Msawawa.

'I believe in collaborations and you can imagine how big an album between Mahotella Queens and Culture Spears would be,' he said.