The Bulawayo-born gospel diva, who is now based in Pretoria, spoke to The Zimbabwean on Sunday in Harare as she was about to close a deal with ZMC for the marketing of her 12-track album.When it comes to female gospel artists with silky inspirational voices and exceptional beauty, Queen tops the list.Since gracing the gospel scene in SA where she has performed at the Christ Embassy and at the Rhema as well as in Lesotho, she has managed to keep her name on the tongues of many South Africans. She wants her fellow countrymen to feel the same way.With her unique style of gospel music, with its Deborah Fraser style, one can tell this gospel diva is on the way to the top. The album features hot tracks such as Tumelo, Msamareya and Jeso Oetla, all sung in either Sepedi or Tswana languages.She is planning to launch out into international waters with her new album, whose title means what have we done?’A nurse in Pretoria, Queen says art is in her DNA. She is also an actress, having landed a role in African movies such as Princess from London and Gotcha Cape.Queen’s album was recorded, balanced, mixed and mastered by Black Eagle Studios in Pretoria.A single mother, proud of her four-year-old daughter, Queen says she has crystallised her purpose in music and in life with a compelling new album that has deep meaning for her. She tells us she will forever praise the lord. She says we should love one another because God is love. She urges fellow Zimbabweans in the diaspora not be ashamed of being Zimbabwean and says she has great things in store for her country.I plan to open a recording studio in Zimbabwe, she said.A single mother, proud of her four-year-old daughter, Queen says she has crystallised her purpose in music and in life with a compelling new album that has deep meaning for her.
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Strutting her stuff: Sandy Ndebele
Raunchy dancer doing her bit to fight AIDS
It might look like sex, but it’s all about traditional values, says Sandy Ndebele
BY SHOWBIZ REPORTER
HARARE
Raunchy singer and dancer Sandra Ndebele insists that her music revolves around promotion of traditional values and fighting HIV/AIDS.A controversial dancer, who has been known to shock crowds with her provocative dances, says she is fighting the AIDS scourge, which is killing 2,000 Zimbabweans every week.
She loves performing adorned in revealing outfits made up of beads, traditional attire of the Ndebele people. Now a regular on the Harare entertainment scene, Sandy performs at government-sponsored national music galas screened live on television to audiences of millions.Although many don’t agree with her mantra that she is preserving culture, seeing her as a raunchy entertainer out to get a quick buck, she maintains she has an important message for the youth.Our culture is going down the drain, and I’m trying to revitalise it, she says matter-of-factly. Young people who live in the cities don’t know about their culture; they sit at home all day watching television and listening to Western music.I’m only 25, but I’ve got a vision whereby maybe one of these days you’ll see women walking in town in those Ndebele traditional outfits.She says a return to innocence and traditional practices would stop multiple sex partners in relationships and reduce divorce cases.A long time ago, a mother was not allowed to talk about sex with her daughter, she says. When you were at that stage of falling for men, you’d be taken to your aunt’s house and your aunt would teach you about sex.Your aunt would teach you how to make love, how you treat your man, how you move your waist and all, like I do in my dances.Men would be satisfied with their own wife and they wouldn’t move on to other women, and it would reduce the spread of AIDS.Zimbabweans are a conservative lot and many frown on her dances. She rubbishes those who criticise her dance, yet watch musicians such as Beyonce, who dances more or less like her.
There are those who see me as a sex symbol and there are those who see me as an African woman out there to revitalise culture, she maintains.Groomed at Amakhosi Arts Centre in Bulawayo, where she now runs a restaurant that serves traditional food, Sandy is trying to give something back to the community, and has established a culture village where ghetto kids are taught the values of custom and tradition.
Most of the boys in town don’t even know how to slaughter a goat, or even a chicken – they’re scared, she says. So this is their platform for them to come in and they practise all that so that when they grow up they’ll be men and will be brave. Because that was what was done a long time ago when we had strong men.
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Post published in: Arts