A Moment with Ringo Madlingozi: Celebrating the Beauty of Love, South African Music, and His Status
With an illustrious thirty-eight-year-long career decorated with as many industry accolades as public and critical plaudits, South African afropop doyen Ringo Madlingozi has become synonymous with the essence of love, being, and oneness with his heartfelt afropop and R&B music and inimitable crooning. Establishing the sound of his soul and tuning it to the beat of his spiritual rhythms, the 59-year-old’s music is a collection of antique artefacts which transcend time and space and continue to inspire generations after him.
We caught up with the icon for a chat.
The veteran musician recently released the soulful single “Ufikile Ekuseni”, which is an ode of self-affirmation and the celebration of oneself. He outlined the inspiration which set his soul ablaze for the creation of the song and the importance of love.
“The world today, as we know it, needs love. How we are as a people dictates that we need one another. On top of that, we need to acknowledge that each person needs to love the other as much as we all love ourselves. That’s why the song is non-gendered. There’s no he or she, but ufikile ekuseni [he/she arrived in the morning]. When this particular person comes, there’s always joy and love, and that’s why it’s so encouraging. As the lyrics even allude, you’ll never hear them speaking on top of their lungs and shouting – they are always speaking softly. That person is you. If we can wake up in the morning and look at the person in the mirror, and tell that person, ‘I love you,’ it won’t matter what any other person says because the most important person, you, already told you that you are loved,” he said.
Ringo Madlingozi | SUPPLIED
Featuring classically Ringo sounds and musical textures, Madlingozi spoke about process of gathering the different elements to make the song work and the challenges he faced to get the song to feel unique.
“My music has always been interlinked with guitar melodies in and out. I realised that I’ve been doing that a lot and other people have been too as well. Then it dawned on me that I wouldn’t be following others, instead others would be following me. So, I spoke with my producers and told them, ‘Look, let’s take what has always been a distinct part of my sound, the guitar, and put it aside. And then start working on the keys, the bass, and the drums and make sure that what we have is enough to make the song sound complete.’ After doing all of that we added the brass, and everything was beautiful,” he said.
Listen to “Ufikile Ekuseni”:
With 10 commercially successful studio albums under his name since the release of his debut Vukani in 1996, Ringo announced that the single “Ufikile Ekuseni” was the intended lead single aimed at being a precursor to his forthcoming album. Slated for release sometime after the first quarter of 2025, he also unpacked plans to drop another single before the intended release of the album.
“This single is taken from an album that will be dropped early next year. There will be another song that will be chosen again by my team that will be dropping. Then after March 2025, we’ll be rolling the album out,” he said.
Over the years, Mzansi has seen the rise of genres born from the ire, passion, and drive of the youth, manifesting as hits within the spaces of kwaito and house, and then more recently Gqom and amapiano, which have achieved recognition beyond the country’s shores and winning acclaim and love from globe. But things weren’t always this peachy.
A living relic who started his journey in the 80s, Ringo recalled the isolation South Africa suffered, blackballed by the rest of the world as a means to penalise the Apartheid regime. The iconic singer conceded that South Ah lagged, for a while, in terms of sound and creativity because of this, and commended the generation of musicians after him for not only running so well with the baton but also catching up with the rest of the global village musically.
Ringo Madlingozi | SUPPLIED
“We have beautiful artists in the country and in Africa as well. Amapiano – young people’s music – has taken over the world, and we still have musicians like Thandiswa Mazwai and Zonke who are is still maintaining our identity as South Africans with their music. On the gospel side of things, we have people like Bucy Radebe. We have people Mlindo the Vocalist, Vusi Nova, and Sjava – beautiful music that is taking the country to another level.
“The current music that we have here in South Africa is enough to give us a buffet as a country, and I love it. Our music and production is now on par with the rest of the world. I remember once upon a time, during the Apartheid days, we were locked in. We didn’t know what the rest of the world was doing. Our music was inferior that way. Only those who could go outside the country and learn what the outside world was doing were very fortunate. Most of us were locked in, and we thought we were the world in our isolation. Music like amapiano has done a good job at breaking down the walls, and the world is dancing to our music. Even way before that, there was Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode’s “Jerusalema”, which was the toast of the world,” he said.
Ringo at the SAMAs with His Lifetime Achivement Award | SUPPLIED
As justice would have it, Ringo was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th Annual South Africa Music Awards (SAMAs) for all his years in the game and his timeless contributions which continue to live on in the hearts and memories of generations. Counting his blessings and the privilege of having worked with some of the finest names through the years, the legend expressed his gratitude for receiving the gong.
“It was an honour for me to receive a prestigious award such as the Lifetime Achievement Award at the SAMAs. All the music that I’ve been doing, the collaborations as well as the work I’ve done with international stars like Oliver Mtukudzi, Mandoza, Lebo Mathosa, and Judith Sephuma all point to the fact that the people have been listening. I was thankful when I found out that the Recording Industry of South Africa had put up my name for the Lifetime Achievement Award – the highest accolade that I could get. To me, it’s like being in the hall of fame and I’m happy to be a recipient of that,” he said.