Music
"Watch out, here comes the musical tsunami." This is a warning to reigning manyalo music queens. This warning comes from manyalo music's nine-year-old new kid on the block, Mukhethwa Mukhwathi of Mianzwi village, near Matangari.
If the saying that dynamite comes in small packages is anything to go by, this Grade 4 pupil at Mianzwi Primary School will undoubtedly continue to rock the local music industry. Like fish following a crocodile in the water, her adoring fans will remember her for her acrobatic dancing styles and small but sweet voice that soothes her well-arranged melodies wherever she performs.
Famously known by her stage name, Baby M, Mukhethwa is the centre of attraction in local shopping malls and public places where she always performs to promote her music.
Asked how she came to venture into the music industry at such a young age, Baby M said that her father, Mr Takalani Mukhwathi, owned a recording studio at home "and I used to hang around the studio while he was busy with his work. I then started singing along with people who came for recordings and my father kept on asking me to be at his side in the studio."
Takalani says his daughter is a talented artist who fell in love with music when she was only five years old. "She has a very sweet voice and one day in 2012, I decided to record her trial debut album, titled Mmawe, with only four songs. To my surprise, everyone was so impressed with her talent and the album was in demand. She then recorded her second album, called Hei ndi mpho, which was followed by another one, called Vhufhelo. Both albums are still in high demand and they are selling very well."
Takalani says he makes sure that Baby M's music commitments do not interfere with her school work and that she is a bright girl who takes her school work very seriously. She only concentrates on her musical career over weekends and school holidays. "I want her to become educated first, so that she can decide if she wants to take music as a full-time job."
Baby M can be contacted through her father at 072 687 3860.