Krip-Hop Finds Home in The Motherland

by Leroy Moore/illin n chillin-PNN

Blind musicians who were once good musicians during their young days established the South African Disabled Musicians Association (SADMA) in 1997. The main reason for the formation was to assist young disabled musicians who can not get record deals and were left out of the music industry and could not participate in opportunities which the country offered for musicians e.g. music talent searches by big companies like Coca Cola. The organization caters to all people with disabilities and different genres of music. This interview is with Sam Nooge representing SADMA.

Krip-Hop: Give us some background of why Musicians with disabilities are discriminated against in the industry?

SADMA: People see disability before listening to the artist's music. As a result, people come to unfair conclusions about the artist. People with disabilities are kept outside their communities at a very early age and are placed in educational institutes that are for children with disabilities. They then grow in the environment where people see very little of them and later in life they are introduced to the community as complete strangers and every thing they present is considered inferior and of no value. Some of them in the process develop inferiority complexes. Maybe it is different in your country. There they do have an opportunity to mix with able-bodied artists due to communication and mobility. Music today is about artists who do more dancing than the actual singing. Unfortunately, most disabled people are not into dancing. Commercial recording studios are not user-friendly for artists with disabilities either.

Krip-Hop: Tell us more about your future goals?

SADMA: Our future goals are to improve and expand our recording studio so that we can accommodate more artists. To establish a commercial recording studio for purposes of business. To establish a music training facility. We want to train people with disabilities as sound engineers. To offer training in business skills and the music industry. To promote our musicians locally and internationally. To promote music festivals and concerts for people with disabilities locally and internationally. To acquire a mobile recording studio so that we can reach disabled musicians in the far away rural and poor areas of our country. To establish a radio station and television station for people with disabilities.

Krip-Hop: Have big musicians in South Africa and in the US helped you at all in your work?

SADMA: No. Big musicians in South Africa and in the United States of America have not helped us. I hope you will assist in talking to Americans like Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles Foundation, Teddy Pendergrass, etc.

Krip-Hop: Give us a view of what happened to music during apartheid?

SADMA: South African music was confined to South Africa and blacks could not play with or for whites and vice versa. Blacks could not perform in the well-equipped venues that were for whites only.

Krip-Hop: How do you reach an international audience and the youth?

SADMA: We have not been exposed to international audiences. It was a first when our artist Coach Matlawe performed in Beijing. Once the documentary that includes our organization is finalized, Coach and other overseas people with disabilities will inform you. The youth we reach through our music talent search for more artists with disabilities.

Krip-Hop: Have any of your artists traveled to the US?

SADMA: NO.

Krip-Hop: Has the government supported your work?

SADMA: Government has assisted us by creating a conducive atmosphere for recording people with disabilities and supporting our programs somewhat financially, although not sufficiently. We were expecting the government to help in marketing our artists and launching them locally and internationally.

Krip-Hop: Do radio stations in South Africa play your artists?

SADMA: NO.Projects we intend embarking on need huge financial resources. To be able to achieve our goals financial resources are needed. People who have financial resources can partner with us by contributing funds that will serve as capital and those people will be shareholders who will receive dividends once the business starts making profit. We are also in the process of raising funds and things are looking promising. Should our sponsors keep to their promises we shall soon be having our own premises with an additional recording studio and a video studio. It will then be a matter of raising cash to be able to run the organization professionally.