A few minutes with Ringo

The renowned Gugulethu-born jazz guitarist, Ringo Madlingozi, has released a multitude of successful albums that over the years have gotten him several awards in South Africa including Best Male Artist (southern Africa) and Best Male Vocalist at the Kora Awards. Although venturing into various genres, including Pop, Reggae, Blues and Jazz, Madlingozi's sound is distinctively rooted in traditional Xhosa rhythms and harmonies delivered in each performance, as it was at the recent Windhoek Jazz Festival.Tjil had the opportunity to speak to the bubbly artist in a one-on-one interview.Tjil (T): How have you managed to stay relevant after all these years of being in the industry? Ringo (R): Well my relevance is based on the sound that I keep on doing. I also change with the times and moreover, I sing about the emotions that are always there like love and unity. I will always be relevant.T: Is it easy to do the transition for your audience?R: I sing about the beauty of a woman, her eyes, the way she walks and talks, you know. I sing about most things that men would love to say to their women. Most of them do say I put pressure on them. Lol. This does not affect my audience at the end of the day because the message stays the same… it's the sound I change.T: How do you feel about your son following in your footsteps?R: I told him that this is a dog-eat dog-world and if he thinks he is strong enough to stand on his two feet and be his own man, he must go for it. He proved me wrong by actually doing it. I told him to be himself and if he thinks he wants to do what I've done, that's not a problem. I am proud of him and how far he has come.T: What has been your biggest achievement thus far?R: Being able to being singing until today and still being relevant to the point of me being here in Namibia. The first time I came here was in 1991 and I'm glad I've achieved the fact that I can still come here. The best-selling album under my name is Into Yami and it sold about 900 000 copies whilst my other albums sell about 400 000. Every day is a song for me and I haven't even started yet… I'm telling you.T: Do you do anything else besides music? R: No, I can do and be anything but I chose to be who I am. I was accepted at UCT for medicine but today I am an artist. The fact is if I tell myself that I'm doing this and I have something to fall back on then I don't think I'm being true to myself. I should always have myself the artist to fall back on and nothing else. Lucky for my country, there are systems that allow artists to make money. Although the unions are there, many become established and they die. T: Would you advise an artist to be under a record label?R: The world is changing. First of all record companies were living off artists. Then artists started uploading their music online which killed the record companies. Today the work is directly from the artists to the consumers and this is the best thing that ever happened because you cut out the middleman. If you can manage yourself, go for it. T: Looking back to when you started and today, how would you advise a young person who wants to pursue a career in music? R: They should know what they want to do and they should always be themselves. One should never want to be like someone else. The world is flat; let it be your oyster. There is cyber space so just get yourself out there and let the people know. Facebook will take you all over the world.T: Who inspires your fashion sense?R: I'm just myself and I don't care, I'm crazy like that. I have been wearing the beads for as long as I can remember. It's part of my culture. It's a pity that we don't appreciate our culture to incorporate it in our music and we rather keep praising the westerners. We should love it. I love what the Nigerians are doing and other African countries should follow suit. Let us fall in love with ourselves and our languages because it means a lot to someone who doesn't understand us. June ShimuoshiliPHOTO: robroymusic.co.za

A few minutes with Ringo

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-19

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A few minutes with Ringo

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-19

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