Peter Mokoena: A hawk�s eye for talent
Chippa Legodimo | Tuesday October 7, 2014 13:48
When people discuss the successes of stars such as Brenda Fassie, Vuyo Mokoena, Rebecca Malope, Pure Magic and Winnie Khumalo they forget to remember that he is the architect of it all.
Mokoena and Sizwe Zakho discovered Malope during the ‘80s talent search competition, Shell Road To Fame and turned her into the platinum selling superstar she is today.
While Bapsy Mlangeni and Hendrick Koloi Leboka discovered Brenda Fassie and brought her to Johannesburg from Cape Town, Mokoena proudly declares that he and Chicco Sello Twala worked together to revive the late musician’s career. The result was the chart-topping Vulindlela hit in 1998.
Mokoena’s musical journey has been a long winding road, filled with ups and downs. But his passion to nurture future stars has kept him going. Showbiz caught up with the famed producer in Tlokweng recently.
In 1987 Mokoena and Sizwe Zakho had a band that entertained audiences between breaks at the Shell Road To Fame competitions and one of the judges, Clive Hardwick quickly recognised their brilliance. “One day Clive said to us you guys are magic and that was so inspiring. That was how Pure Magic was born,” he said.
Malope won a house and a recording deal after snatching the title and Mokoena, Lloyd Dlamini and Zakho were chosen to produce her first album.
Although they struggled with funds their faith in the petite vocalist paid off handsomely when her disco album hit gold status within weeks of release. “Since then Rebecca has never sold anything less than gold. That Majita song drove people crazy across the lengths and breaths of South Africa and neighbouring countries,” Mokoena said.
Although the three composer-producers were happy with Malope’s success as a disco performer, Mokoena later decided to create a new genre and tried it on her follow up albums. “We can search the records and see if there was any other South African musician who did Afro-gospel before Rebecca. We were the first people to introduce that. Disco music was more about fun, but we felt Rebecca could use her popularity to influence people and slowly, slowly we added gospel songs in her albums until she completely ditched disco,” Mokoena said.
With Malope’s career soaring to greater heights, Mokoena started focusing on building up Pure Magic. He explained to Showbiz the initial idea was to use the group to groom more gospel artists instead of an ensemble releasing its own albums. One of the biggest musicians to come through the ranks was the late Vuyo Mokoena who eventually took over the leadership of Pure Magic.
“I had to go oversees to study sound engineering. There was a problem at the time because our history had influenced every sphere of life. We had these white engineers who did not understand what we wanted as black musicians and producers. We would spend a lot of time arguing about how a certain sound should come out and I decided to go and study. I completed my studies in 2003,” he said.
Recalling how Twala and he revived Fassie’s career with the release of Vulindlela, Mokoena expressed some mixed emotions.
It was one Saturday morning when they were driving around the drug infested location of Hillbrow in Johanesburg that they sported ‘Mabrr’ sitting at a corner of a street, looking rather lost and confused. Mokoena stepped out of the vehicle to talk to the singer and after some persuading they took her to a place of safety.
“She was in a sorry state. I was touched to see such talent go to waste like that. Me and Chicco managed to convince her to start over again and the result was that Vulindlela hit, which rocked the world,” he said.
Although he is yet to produce another star in the mould of Malope or Fassie, Mokoena insists he still has the magic in him.
“There is a Motswana woman by the name Mathapelo that I am handling and she is coming up right. In fact, I have been working with her for some time. She has huge potential and can also play the guitar very well. I wanted to launch her two years ago, but Zahara was the boom musician and I decided to wait and polish her,” Mokoena said.
While sad stories of ‘the fall from grace’ of musicians and producers of his generation have haunted many of his peers, Mokoena says he has been lucky to avoid the sad state of affairs.
“I am not a pauper because I have my own studio. Various musicians come to record regularly and that has helped me sustain myself. I am not rich, but I have two cars and a good house, and my bank account is just fine,” the 62-year-old said.