 Former Ebony Shake and Ilanga singer Sibusisiwe “Busi” Ncube is seeing more of the chalkboard than the studio after taking up a job as a music teacher at Malmo Music Academy in Sweden.
The extensively travelled star, who now spends the better part of her time on tour abroad, could not hide her joy as she narrated the story of her new post. “From now until 2009 I will be a lecturer in music in a Swedish music centre, Malmo Academy. I made an agreement with the institution this year, which will see me offering musical tutorials to students at the centre. This is a new post in my career and my job will be to teach African music. The job involves holding music workshops with students and organising concerts with them so that in the end they showcase their works with me,” she said.
Explaining how she landed the post, Busi, who has stayed for a long time in Sweden, said African music was in high demand in Europe and people there were very much interested in understanding the cultural aspects of African music, which has attracted a strong fan base.
“African music is on demand in that part of the world. What happened is that I used to work with the students and their tutors when it came to music matters. They used to invite me during workshops and discussions which they often hold. They were interested in learning a variety of music genres, and African music in particular, because of its uniqueness and diversity. They said African music was totally different from other types of music offered in the world,” she added.
Malmo Academy of Music is an international institution — hosting students from all over the world.
Having assumed this post, Ncube said she would alter her singing schedules, as she will have to spend more time teaching than performing and this means staying in one place rather than travelling.
“I don’t think that will affect my job as a singer. I have not abandoned the microphone but will be doing the two concurrently. After all the job is not so strange because I have a feel for it. I have been invited as a guest lecturer on several occasions at Oslo Academy in Norway and so combining the two is good for me,” she explained.
Leading a seven-member group Rain Band, the talented multilingual icon sings in six different languages; Ndebele her mother language, Shona, Xhosa, Zulu, Chichewa, Suthu and English. She has released 13 albums, beginning with Visions Foretold (1987), Silver & Gold (1989), Ilanga Road (1990), (all with Ilanga) and them Zevezeve, followed by Bayagiya and Ray of Hope, among others. Her latest album, Malaisha was released last year.
With a musical career spanning 22 years, the 45-year-old Bulawayo-born singer has proved herself to be woman enough when it comes to music. She has scooped many awards some of which are; the most outstanding female artiste in Zimbabwe (1999), the Silver Jubilee Female artiste award for outstanding musician between 1980-2005. She received the freedom of the city of Harare medal for her dedication to working with the underprivileged in society, and was once a music consultant in the country. Most of her songs talk about love, loss, passion and injustices in the whole world. (The Chronicle)
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