I find solace in music. Much like a lot of other people do. I lose and find myself in music. It is perhaps the best part of who I am. My taste varies but one of the following two things must be present to guarantee my enjoyment:
1. Authentically African
2. Beyonce
I enjoy music so much that I often get emotionally attached to musicians. Theirs is a job I doubt I would ever try due to firstly, an appalling lack of talent and secondly due to the sheer BRAVERY it must take to follow such a path. I mean most career paths follow a particular formula or pattern to reach success and often one's success is determined by their own input. I don't think the same process exists when you are a musician, I believe that their success (well, too much of it) is determined by other people. From record label execs to the public, a lot of a musician's success is determined by external factors. To put bread on the table through pouring your guts out on a beat and melody then have people be the final judge of whether it is worth anything seems pretty daunting to me. Yet there are millions of people who follow that path because they know no other way of being. No other way of living. Nothing is worth anything if they can't make music. I respect that.
It is this respect that has me throwing my toys out whenever anybody spits on the work and sacrifices of musicians (artists in general really) because they too have responsibilities and commitments. That you take singing and dancing as a hobby should never allow you to dismiss entertainment as both a job and career. So imagine my frustration and anger when I walked into Musica at Mimosa Mall in September and requested Zola's Bhambatha album and I was met with "We don't distribute Zola's music since his scandals and everything!" from the pretty customer assistant. Stunned silence from me. I walked out of the music retailer out of both defeat and frustration.
I had to ask myself, who did Zola get into a tiff with who went on such a power-trip they set out to destroy his career? Look, I'm not one for conspiracy theories but the way Zola's career "died" was not natural. It seemed all too orchestrated. From the tabloid reports, to the cancellation of his show and deals, to the way radio stations just stopped playing his music and now this. I am suspicious guys and one day Zola should pen an autobiography and shed some light. But until then:
Dear Musica
You are a music retail outlet, not a moral authority. If you were, you would have gone out of business soon after you started because "scandals" often make up part of any commercially successful artist's journey. They will have things written about them, it is the nature of the beast. The beast here being the entertainment industry. Now what I would like to know from you is why Zola? On whose command did you effectively end a man's career? The thing is these artists rely on album sales to put food on the table and clothes on their children's backs. What would make you cut-off an entire family's lifeline?
Anyhow, these musicians don't belong to you. They belong to their fans. The people whose hearts and lives are affected by them. So no matter how impossible you make it to find a particular album, a true fan will hunt for it until they get it. You see your office drama and corridor politics have nothing to do with us. Don't involve us and don't undermine us by filling up positions you have no business filling.
Re-stock Zola's albums.
Yours in service to music-lovers,
Me
And so it goes guys... Thanks for reading and thanks to Look & Listen for the special order. I got my Bhambatha album last night and I'll be bumping it this Christmas. Almost a decade after its release, because you can't bury talent and sizoshosholoza shosholoza. No matter what they say to you Zola.
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