“Without music life would be a blunder”, John A Logan once said that music is the medicine of the mind. But I, without a great deal of effort, figured that, this “medicine” called music does not manufacture itself. Music takes hard work, extensive hours, talent, commitment and tons of training to perfect. This is what I learnt from a conversation I had with Edith Mudau, a professional singer/performer who is currently based in Hong-Kong. Edith formerly works for Disney in a production called “The festival of the lion king”. She started her professional music career in 2002 when she qualified for the Pop-stars top 23 after which, she went to attend Siya-Phezulu workshops. It was during this time that she had exposure of working with music experts, such as Yvonne Chaka-Chaka and Selaelo Selota.
“I always had a passion for singing since from an early age” she said. I knew I wanted to sing ever since I can remember, even though my job entail all genre of music, am particularly very fond of gospel music, and this is because I grew up in church so my first singing moments were in church. In 2003 after completing her matric at Kutama secondary school in Limpopo, Edith moved to Johannesburg where she worked with Duma Ndlovu, the executive producer of Muvhango in one of his musical shows called “The journey”. “It was a musical that included singing, acting and dancing, and this was my first time travelling overseas, I went to Switzerland”. “In 2005 I then auditioned for “The African Mamas”, and this was also an overseas based project where I travelled the whole of Europe, I went to Denmark, Amsterdam, Paris and Belgium and in the same year I worked with Chico Twala in his project “Maria Le Maria”. Locally Edith also had appearances on TV programs such as at a popular SABC 2 contemporary African music show AFRO CAFE where she performed with Selaelo Selota on his new album
“Talent cannot flourish in isolation and that is why during the initial stages of my career I had to attend a lot of intensive courses, training programs and inductions in order to be where I am today. During my period in this industry, I learnt that without formal training it can be a bit difficult to have a sustainable long term career. My advice to those who would like to be professional musicians is that even though taking shortcuts may work for you, it is always advisable to take a rather longer but sustainable route, and if you go to a tertiary institution or music schools to study, that’s a bonus, it’s important to acquire as much knowledge as one can in this field. “My career in Music is not an isolated entity and involves a lot of performances, acting and dancing, because Music is not just about going to a stage and intoning a song, there is a lot of things involved in putting a show together, such as management and a lot of organization that goes on behind the scenes” Uttered Edith.
“I feel there is not enough awareness on music as a career especially for youth from Limpopo. The only break that one can get is to come to Johannesburg, and sometimes due to constraints of poverty it is not always possible to do so. Those that have a passion for music end up with dreams shuttered. If we can have more education on music by people who knows and understand the art of music that will be gratuity. While she said this, I thought to myself, “Why do we only have sciences and commences in our schools and not have music offered as one of the subjects, because not everyone find the idea of sitting in the lab or looking at numbers all day, fun and fascinating. “Music must come from within, it must be your passion and most of the time, the mistake that people make is resorting to music after their “other plans” has failed, but it shouldn’t be like that, like any other careers it must be treated with respect” She said.
I was inspired by the conversation I had with Edith, but when she started asking me which year was last year, I realised this whole “6 hour” time-difference between South Africa, (where I am) and Hong Kong, (where she is) has taken its toll. I knew it was my queue to leave, coz under normal circumstances, no one wants to be interviewed at 10pm after a long day at work. I was however, tempted to sing her a lullaby with my altorized soprano- tone-of-voice but then I thought “Maybe not”, (Just to avoid traumatizing her and causing her any psychological disturbances).
Edith, Let us offer our gratitude to you, for your time, irrespective of the time-difference issues, we feel highly honoured and we wish you all the best with your career and enjoy your stay in Hong Kong.
Music Bursaries for 2012
· Ellie Marx Memorial scholarship (15 October 2011),
Executive officer, SA society of music teachers, PO.Box 20573, Noordburg, 2522, www.sasmt-savmo.org
· Gladwell Music scholarship (30 September 2011)
Executive officer, SA society of music teachers, PO.Box 20573, Noordburg, 2522, www.sasmt-savmo.org
· Premedia foundation bursary scheme
· The law student scholarship trust fund (30 September 2011)
Po.Box 604, Windhoek, Namibia
· Legalwise bursary scheme (29 October 2011)
www.legalwise.co.za, legal wise bursary committee, PO.Box 1524, Florida 1709/0116704500
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