Today, award winning singer and songwriter, Mlindo the Vocalist, releases his long awaited new single called ‘Mali’ featuring critically acclaimed afro pop artist, Nathi. ‘Mali’ demonstrates everything that makes Mlindo great – a versatile, well-written song that aptly observes and captures the world and is delivered brimming with emotion and soul.
Of the collab, Mlindo the Vocalist said: “ I am a big fan of Nathi and I am so honoured to have him on the song with me. I actually can’t really believe that I have a song with Nathi!“ said the ‘Egoli’ hit maker.
The song soulfully explores the age-old experience that countless South Africans have had to undertake of moving to Johannesburg to work and support their families back home. It also describes the pain of becoming successful and people only see you as a meal ticket.
“A lot of people know how it feels to be financially responsible for your family – black tax – and sometimes even your friends. You don’t even enjoy going out anymore because everyone looks to you when the bill comes,” said Mlindo.
It’s no overstatement to say Mlindo the Vocalist, real name Lindokuhle Mgedezi, was 2018’s breakout artist. The release of the album EMAKHAYA confirmed Mlindo as one of the most gifted vocalists to have emerged from South Africa. Indeed, EMAKHAYA overflowed with moments of sheer vocal brilliance, making it unquestionably one of the most important albums by a vocalist to have emerged from South Africa in decades.
The journey to the release of EMAKHAYA started soon after winning a competition which led to recording the single, Awusekho, with Afrotainment. This got his creative juices flowing and so began the social media posts with Sfiso. That’s when he created his YouTube channel and he named himself Mlindo The Vocalist. Even though Mlindo had begun studying education at the University of Zululand after school (and his obvious musical talents had received little recognition at home), Mlindo says that being “inside” music has always been the only thing that matters to him.
Mlindo took one more significant step in getting attention for his musical gifts. “I saw that Sun-El Musician was playing at this club in Margate and so I asked the club if I could be the opening act and, after some convincing, they eventually said yes.” Hiring a van to transport Sfiso’s hefty keyboard didn’t come cheap but Mlindo was determined to make an impact on the producer. It paid off. After seeing Mlindo perform, Sun-El got in touch and the result is ‘Bamthathile’, a superb combination of Sun-El’s production and Mlindo’s lyrics and vocals — and the first major recording calling card for the Port Shepstone musician. Mlindo travelled to Joburg for the recording of ‘Bamthathile’ and was back home when he got word in January that DJ Maphorisa was looking for him. Once again Mlindo took a bus to Joburg and by 10:30am ‘AmaBlesser’ was recorded, marking the start of a relationship with Blaqboy Music and Sony Music.
Stream or Download ‘Mali’ here.
Bongi Sikelo 