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Some of the artists who participated in the free show in Thohoyandou.

“They kill our business”

 

Artists in Thulamela came out guns blazing and blaming the local municipality for the collapse of their music careers. They blame the municipality, saying it is denying them the means to make an honest livelihood by banning them from performing in towns under the municipality.

They say to add to their woes and rub salt in their wounds, the municipality is not doing anything at all to stop the sale of illegally copied or pirated music, which is readily available on pavements in the towns.

At the weekend, a group of concerned artists staged a protest show in Thohoyandou to show their dissatisfaction about the municipality's decision to ban live performances by artists in its towns. The artists who performed before a capacity crowd, which supported them by buying CDs and DVDs, were led by well-known veteran gospel musician Jerry Navhani.

Navhani, who is known for his unique stage dances and has composed and produced many hits and groomed many artists, said that the once-booming music industry "is going down the drain and the life of musicians has been reduced to that of begging. We are suffering and cannot even afford to take care of ourselves and our families."

He emphasised that they have been hard hit "by this unilateral and dictating decision by the municipality. Music is our only source of income." According to him, music is their livelihood and is the only honest way that they can make a living. "Stopping us and banning us from town is like sentencing us to death," he said.

He further indicated that the most painful thing was that the municipality had banned them from town without giving them any alternative. Navhani added that, since the ban, many artists had gone into oblivion and had stopped producing music.

"Piracy is another thorn in the flesh for us. Our music is being sold all over the towns for next to nothing. We spend thousands producing good quality music that ends up pirated and being sold for as little as R10."

Thulamela municipality spokesperson, Mr Ndwamato Tsiila, said they had not banned the musicians from performing in towns, but that they had to apply for permission through the proper channels. "It is also not true that we are not doing anything to curb piracy, as we confiscate the pirated music that is being sold illegally in our towns from time to time," he said.

 

Date:30 January 2017

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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