Sindi grew up in Pietermaritzburg, Kwazulu Natal and was raised in Azalea close to Imbali. Sindi began her musical journey at the age of 12, singing in church with her brothers and sisters.
In the year 2010 she joined a gospel choir called Chosen in Pietermaritzburg, this exposed her to meeting members of an accappella gospel group called AVODAH which she joined in 2011 and sang alongside Nondumiso Radebe. At age 15 Sindi was introduced by Dumi Mkokstad to join the local church and has since had the opportunity to fully grow her career in music by backing artists like Dr Tumi, Hlengiwe Mhlaba, Nathi and Nkanyiso Ayanda Ntanzi, Lebo Segobela, Mahalia, Thobekile and Women in praise.
Sindi studied communications than went to Bible College and studied Theology full-time for 2 years, after which she volunteered as a Communications and Admin person at the local church which gave her depth in the way she uniquely ministers through song.
One of the highlights in Sindi’s musical journey was being in the top 8 of X Factor with the group Avodah in 2014 and when she sang and recorded live with the EThekwini Gospel choir leading a song called Izwi Lakho written and produced by Ntokozo Ngongoma. She is still rooted in her local church as an active Worshiper, now her album, NGAMBONA, which was released in June 2019.
Born (1997/04/01) in tavelkop and raised at Duduza Nigel. Kabelo Prince Nkopodi, better known by his stage name “Royal Verse” is a young, gifted artist with a wild creative imagination.
He is inspired by khali Uchis,Big Sean and Kendrick Lamar, because he feels those are artists who have a totally different sound from the rest of the artist he looks up to and he believes he will be one of the South African artists to bring about a different sound.
Royal Verse is a songwriter and a performing artist. He started doing music when he was 16 years old alongside his uncle by producing house music. When he was 19 years old he started having interest in hip hop and spent more time writing and producing Hip hop, since then the young music genius has been doing great but he says he won’t be satisfied about his music until he discovers a new sound.
Danny Danny who’s birth name is Daniel Ayisi, was born on the 1st of December in Ghana.
Realizing his talent in the early twenties, Danny Danny had to stand firm against the desires of relatives and later the spouse who preferred he concentrated on his Accounting profession and shun doing music. In a way, they were understood because of his inability to do some good works like the others around. Day by day were sleepless nights composing and correcting composed songs for the right footing. Listening to the music of others on television and radio were some of the other times he used such stuffs to redress what he did. His rejections by producers strangely encouraged him all the more with the notion that he was still not okay.
In a related development, he travelled to South Africa in 2015, to seek greener pastures. Using the opportunity to further work on the talent amidst the influence of the various genres of music in South Africa he record a single track calling it Wonderful Drink and back home Ghana he recorded another single, Yahweh putting up its jazz version as well.
In terms of music genre, Danny Danny sees himself multi-genre. Though under the sun, it is generally said that there is nothing new; yet, Danny Danny wants to venture composing as best as possible from unique perspective.
Nkanyiso Mduduzi Mahlangu a Pretoria based Kwaito artist, born in Kwa Bulawayo on National Youth day which is June Sixteenth in 1988 to a Christian and God fearing family. Given stage name “Bestos” by fellow producers as they felt his got the best touch to kwaito music genre.
Growing up in music, basically Bestos’ whole life has been a journey in song and dance. Although with its highs and lows, tempos have been the order of the day over years. First introduced to the beautiful Zulu sounds of Maskhandi by his all-time favorite radio station uKhozi Fm. He then developed the love of the urban groove kwaito music along the years, as he transuded from Boyhood to Manhood.
Gaining more exposure and knowledge of the genre by listening to the beat with a message from guys like Zola, Mashona, Mandoza, Brown Dash & Disc jockeys Phat Joe, Oskido, Khabzela on other radio stations such as Jozi Fm, Yfm & Metro fm after joining the Gravy Train to Gauteng 2006 to seek Gold.
Knowing very well in the Province of Gold nobody wants to go back home empty handed. The Highly motivated young man Bestos, found his sense of belonging, direction & calling within Kwaito Music. Bestos believes he chose well by marrying into this musical journey, which he has followed through the Old School Days of Mandla Spikiri till now into the now present Gqom led by Babes Wodumo, Destruction Boys & Busiswa to name but a few.
Not only does Bestos want to entertain but also seeks inspire upcoming acts just like himself. By studying music production part-time to perfect his skills, as well as majoring in guitar sounds, hopefully with time he will regarded one of the, if not the best kwaito producer and lyricist of his time. Not forgetting his dream of blending kwaito with a maskhadi feel to it.
Zamani Ngidi better known as Zee is an artist from Johannesburg, South Africa. He started rapping in his early childhood years and continued to do so while learning to discover music producing in high school. During his high school period he was affiliated with various rap entities until deciding to pursue a solo career from 2008. In the period of 2009 and 2011, he worked on his music and collaborated with local and United States artists with placing on various mixtapes in the US. Following this period of what he would label as “A development phase in my musical journey which I deemed necessary, I made over 200 songs during that period and it’s all just putting in my 10,000 hours I guess, but I’m still pushing to be better.” He has released two mixtapes “Champagne & Heartbreak” in early 2013 and the more recent “Give It Time” released in late 2016, with latter dawning over 20,000 downloads and 5,000,000 streams and with plans to release his the “Give It Time EP” in 2017 and debut album “All Good Things” in 2018. “Give It Time” spawned a single, charting on South Africa’s iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap Top 200 in the form of “I Love You All”, a rhythmic, synth driven record with a captivating hook and mesmerizing flows, with his narration on his infatuation with the female sex.
A sense of mission and grandiose visions are what captivate audiences all over the world to listen and eagerly follow Zee’s musical journey, in his words, “The music I make is art, it’s the narration of the world through my eyes, I feel like I resonate with people for the fact that the experiences I go through and theirs are similar, I just make songs about it; Also I think what makes me Zee, especially my identity as a musician is because music is art, the perception of who I am and the culmination of all the intangibles of what makes a musician will always be interpreted differently, especially by various individuals, ultimately I just want people to be entertained, that’s my mission, I want to entertain the world, and make people feel great, not only about themselves but in general” Zee is a rising star, who’s eyes are set on superstardom, with the future looking bright, his passion and drive have the world eagerly anticipating what is to come.
Joseph Ferrante had his first guitar as a Christmas present when he was nine years old. Since then he’s been learning all kind of music styles so as to apply them to his guitar playing. He is mainly a Rock musician. He worked as a piano tuner and technician for Chappell, Yamaha and other firms, perfecting the art of making and repairing pianos. Amongst his usual customers you could find The Royal Albert Hall, The Westminster Cathedral, The Royal Scots Guard Band, The BBC, The London Symphony Orchestra, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, etc., etc. He stopped giving live performances with bands and is now exclusively dedicating himself to studio work. Ferrante uses real instruments, avoiding the use of electronic instruments, sequencers, etc., etc. Three main reasons guided his life: God, Music and Romeo and Juliet. His major musical influences are: Yes, The Rolling Stones, Ten Years After, E.L.P., Jimi Hendrix, Beethoven and Bach. His “Shangri-la” CD is a mixture of styles and tendencies including Pop, Rock, Ballads, Classic Choirs, Latin Music, Impromptus, Reggae Fusion, Tropical Bachata, Fox Trot, Swing, etc., etc. The land of forever…”Shangri-La”…the magical dream place far away beyond the mountains…the Kingdom of eternal youth, gave the title for this work.
“Back For More” produced by the “Nkalankatha” hitmaker Gabi le Roux, will be released on Wednesday, January 17.
Le Roux is the man who turned Mandoza into a household name with the hit song Nkalakatha and had a long working relationship with the late muso.
“…There are a lot of unreleased songs that we plan to release in the future.”
According to Mandoza’s former manager, Vaughn Eaton, they will also be launching Mandoza’s clothing range in partnership with Magents Clothing.
“We’re doing this to celebrate him and also to keep his rich legacy alive,” Le Roux said. “In launching his clothing line, Mandoza Estate has also partnered with retail stores across the country for the manufacturing and distribution of the apparel. The iTsotsi Yase Kasi T-shirts are a sample of what is to come as we develop the full clothing range for release later on.”
The single, “Back for More”, will be released together with a track titled “Mandoza Tshabalala” by Pascal Mazibuko.
The rehabilitated criminal from Zola, who now lives in East London, performed the song at Mandoza’s funeral in 2016. Mazibuko said he was excited the song would finally be released.
“For me, Mandoza is still alive,” Mazibuko said. “The song is just a reminder that he might be gone but not for good. His legacy still lives on.”
Mandoza’s widow, Mpho Tshabalala, said: “Last year, I could not do more to push his legacy because it was still fresh. There are a lot of unreleased songs that we plan to release in the future.
“We used his birthday to launch the two because we want the legacy to have a meaning.”
Legendary musician Bra Hugh Masekela has died, SAfm and eNCA reported on Tuesday. Bra Hugh’s manager, Josh Georgiou, was not immediately available to confirm the report. The musician’s team released a statement in October saying he had been battling prostate cancer since 2008.
The statement explained that the jazz veteran underwent eye surgery in March 2016 after the cancer spread, and had to go into theater again in September 2016 as another tumor was discovered.
In December, Georgiou told TshisaLIVE that he was fighting the disease with everything he had.
Bra Hugh was born in KwaGuqa township in Witbank and began singing and playing the piano as a child.
After seeing the flick Young Man with a Horn at 14-years-old, Masekela began playing the trumpet. His first trumpet was given to him by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, an anti-apartheid chaplain at St. Peter’s Secondary School.
He soon mastered the instrument and by 1956 joined Alfred Herbet’s African Jazz Revue. Bra Hugh’s music was inspired by the turmoil that South Africa went through during apartheid and he said it was used as a weapon to spread political change.
[BREAKING NEWS] Legendary South African trumpeter, composer and singer Hugh Masekela has died at the age of 78, after a battle with prostate cancer #sabcnewspic.twitter.com/hsiZZpnHnE
As a working artist, it’s not enough to produce art: you need to promote your art as well. Your artistic path may be more about your inherent need to create and leave your mark on the world. However, this won’t help introduce your work to the art community. Making sure that your work reaches the right audience and potential buyers is crucial to achieving success. If you don’t make an effort to get your work out there, no one will be able to tell you how much they love it – or purchase a piece.
Promoting your art should not feel overwhelming. You don’t have to do everything at once. In fact, one of the important things about successful promotion is that it is targeted to the specific aims you have in mind. This means that the very first step in promoting your art effectively is to decide what you want to achieve.
If you have only just begun your art career, then you may want to concentrate on building up a reputation and a collector base in your local area. On the other hand, you may be ready to move on a national or international scale. Perhaps you want to make your mark within the community connected to your medium, or to develop the interest felt by people interested in the theme you specialize in. Evaluate your current position in terms of your art career and connections, and decide on the goals that you would like to achieve. Promote your art accordingly.
At Agora Gallery we understand that promotion is an aspect of an artist’s career that should develop all the time, just as the art itself does. Here are some tips from the experts at Agora Gallery on the best strategies to promote your art effectively.
#1 – Use Your Portfolio to Promote your Art
In developing a strong artist portfolio, your goal should be twofold. You should be able to both develop your brand and package your art. Your portfolio should make it easier for you to submit to competitions, post on your website and develop marketing material. One of the most important elements here is the visual reproduction of your art, as this will be what attracts the viewer and what he or she is most likely to be moved by.
Here are some general guidelines for portfolio development:
Each high exposure photograph should be well executed and visually compelling. Remember, in marketing art it’s the visual that will count the most.
Each image should be accompanied by succinct and captivating text. Details such as size, media, and title should be included, as well as a brief description of the work. One of the best ways to catch a potential buyer’s interest is to tell the story behind the artwork.
A strong bio should also accompany the work. If you manage to get a potential buyer’s attention, they will almost always take a new interest in your work as well. Don’t be afraid to share your story: your background, how your art developed, what inspires you the most, and what you hope your art can give to the world.
#2 – Promote Your Art with a Strong Internet Presence
In every industry, digital marketing is becoming more and more relevant, and this is no different in the art world.
Digital marketing can take several different forms:
Online galleries like ARTmine are becoming the norm and provide a great venue for promoting your art by attracting the attention of new collectors and art enthusiasts.
An art website or artist page on a popular website is also a must-have to promote your art. It provides an easy and convenient way for fans to find you online and view your latest work. Include the website’s address on your business cards, and in emails you send out to your mailing list.
Social media has become a powerful tool for both reaching new fans and staying in touch with established ones. Setting up business accounts/pages on such sites as Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest is a great way to generate and maintain interest in your work as it evolves.
Oresegun Olumide, a Nigerian artist, had not been very regular with posting his works on social media. However, once the hyper realist painter did become regular, his works went viral almost immediately. In February 2016, his images on Facebook were shared over 50,000 times and he went from 800 followers on Instagram to more than 27,000. There are countless examples like this in every creative career. An internet presence can truly make a huge difference.
#3 – Art Competitions Can Promote Your Art
For the emerging artist, art competitions provide one of the most effective ways to gain exposure in the art world. In fact, art competitions are renowned for discovering and showcasing noteworthy emerging artists and even, sometimes, launching their careers. Here are some of the main benefits of art competitions:
Art competitions enable you to display your work among your peers. Experts agree that this is one of the best ways to push yourself as an artist. Any feedback you receive will give you new insight into your art and enable you to grow as an artist.
They get your work in front of gallerists, curators, and editors, who can in turn positively impact your career. In fact, winners of art competitions almost always benefit from extensive promotion efforts from the hosting gallery or organization.
Your work will receive invaluable visibility. Even if you don’t win, participating in the competition can yield dividends in terms of getting your work out there. In fact, this is considered one of the most cost-effective ways for beginning artists to gain valuable experience and build their resumes.
Choose which competitions to enter based on which would best aid your current career goals. If you are working on making a name for yourself in your medium and want to impress your fellow water color artists (for instance) then water color competitions might suit you best. Similarly, if you are interested in taking your career to the national or international level, competitions with awards which will help you do that are the most sensible to enter. The Chelsea International Fine Art Competition, which Agora Gallery sponsors every year, is a great example of a competition with awards which are designed to help artists to increase their exposure and develop their career.
#4 – Network, Network, Network
Building a robust network in the art world is one of the most effective ways to promote your art. In addition, a network can expose you to new art opportunities that you might not have otherwise known existed. There are a number of ways in for artists to promote their art through networking and building contacts.
Art Organizations
Remember that your art is a business, and just like any business, networking is an important part of making your work relevant within the art community. . The best ways to network on a professional level is to become an active participant in art organizations. Not only will you be able to make friends who in themselves can become enthusiastic promoters of your art (and you for theirs), but these organizations offer a wide range of resources that can help strengthen your business model and give you support in promoting your work and building your brand as an artist.
Community Events
Locally hosted art fairs, street shows, and open studio events provide a unique opportunity for you to connect with other artists in your area. In addition, as you become a fixture at these types of events, you will build a presence in your community and start to be recognized as a local artist. Remember to also bring print materials like business cards and flyers to these events. Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth – chat with people and if they are interested in your work, respond warmly.
Follow Up
Another important aspect of networking is following up with existing buyers. Your old clients know your work and have already expressed sufficient interest. Instruments like artist newsletters or even phone conversations can be used to keep them updated.
Don’t ignore the benefits of networking with artists, or putting time and effort into friendships with art professionals. The value of these relationships is obvious, from providing support and inspiration to introductions to key members of the art scene. At Agora Gallery, we frequently hear our artists talking enthusiastically about how the influence of the other artists they met at their opening receptions at Agora has impacted their work and their ideas.
#5 – Getting Active in the Community can Help Promote Your Art
When you volunteer to use your artistic abilities to benefit your community, you build your reputation as an artist and can gain unexpected opportunities to promote your work.
Some of the best types of community outreach include:
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Charity events: Donate your work to a local charity auction, or volunteer your services at the event yourself.
Local schools:Volunteer your time to go into classrooms and teach students about your particular method of creating art. Teachers love to host visiting artists, and this is a great opportunity to build your reputation in the community.
Community projects: Many towns and cities are taking art to the streets via community mural projects. Volunteer your skills and expertise and you will leave a visual reminder of your presence in the community.
Remember, a critical part of promoting your art is about taking advantage of unexpected opportunities as they come up. If you are painting as part of a charity event or working en plein air in the local park and someone approaches you and inquires about your art, take that opportunity to give them your business card and perhaps even add them to your mailing list.
#6 – Look For Gallery Representation
If all this seems a bit overwhelming to you, know that there is help out there. Promotional galleries like Agora are attractive to artists for precisely this reason. Working with an established, respectable gallery will propel your career forward, sometimes beyond your dreams. The scope of representation varies with each gallery, but you can usually count on exhibitions, various promotions, participation in events, and public relations.
Some of the services that galleries offer emerging artists are:
Press Releases, Artist Profiles, and Artist Statements: Promotional galleries will usually have a staff of professional writers to help you develop compelling content focusing on your work and on you as an artist. This material is featured on their website as well in exhibition catalogs and publications. It helps collectors and potential buyers to know more about your creative process and artistic content.
Digital Representation: Established galleries usually have a large following on social media and representing with them means that you will be featured on these platforms regularly, thus enhancing your online presence and outreach.
Exhibitions: Promotional representation includes participation in collective or solo exhibitions with an opening reception to which the entire gallery clientele of buyers, collectors, and media professionals are invited. The development and distribution of online exhibit announcements and also other promotional media surrounding this event is the responsibility of the gallery.
Professional Guidance: Galleries understand your art, the marketplace, and the business of being an artist. At Agora Gallery, for example, artists receive all sorts of guidance, from how to price their artwork to finding collectors through online exposure.
Ogochukwu Oye better known as Ogoo was born in a close-knit Nigerian family in Awka, Anambra State
in Nigeria. Her passion for music has always been there since her teenage years, and somehow crowns
her mom’s prediction that she would be a singer and dancer. Perhaps this explains why years after
practicing as a certified Barrister at law, Ogoo decided to pursue her first love and passion, music.
As Ogoo, whose music influences include Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars and Adele grew older, she found
herself loving music and music for her comes naturally. She grew musically by joining the choir at a
tender age.
The second track Onye Isi Oma is a beautiful classic love song depicting how lucky and grateful a girl is to have found her one true love. It is a beautifully crafted melodious and dance-able tune sung both in
English and Igbo that will surely keep you grooving all day.
Onye Isi Oma is available for purchase, download and streaming on iTunes, Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify,
YouTube and all other music streaming services.
Legendary musician Bra Hugh Masekela has died, SAfm and eNCA reported on Tuesday. Bra Hugh’s manager, Josh Georgiou, was not immediately available to confirm the report. The musician’s team released a statement in October saying he had been battling prostate cancer since 2008.
