Legendary Ringo ‘still not there yet’

Veteran Afro-soul singer Ringo Madlingozi says he is nowhere near where he wants to be in the music industry.

With more than two decades in the music industry and an array of awards, Madlingozi told the Dispatch over the weekend that he had hoped to have achieved more in his career by now.

The Buyisa hitmaker was among artists who performed at the Night of Soul Music Concert at the Orient Theatre on Friday night.

In the 20 years in the industry, Madlingozi has scooped multiple awards in the country and the continent, including a number of Kora All African Music Awards.

Madlingozi has performed in European countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands Spain and Germany.

“When I started singing I knew people would love my music, but I thought it would be bigger than it is right now.

“To be honest, I believe I have not started yet because there is more that I still want to do,” he said.

He said choosing love songs was deliberate and it worked for him as most people related to love.

Madlingozi said he still wanted to see himself performing in stadiums packed with people who had come just for him.

“Music festivals are different because there are other artists there, one can therefore not say all those people are there for them.

“I want people to pack stadiums, coming just to see me perform. That is my dream. That is what I want to see happening,” he said.

Madlingozi said his dream was also to have a foundation where he would help up and coming artists and teach them more about music.

“That will not only be the focus, but also helping children to fulfil their dreams,” he said.

Madlingozi’s previous album, Siyaxhentsa, had only two new songs and the rest were reworkings of his previously released songs.

“I would not say it was an album, but it was just meant to keep the name afloat,” he said.

He said he was working on a new album that was due to be released “sometime this year”, saying his fans would not be disappointed by his new offering.

“There is no title track yet, we are still working on it.

“I would not say it was going back to the drawing board, but it is about bringing back the old sound and to arouse people’s emotions. This is what basically Ringo is known for,” he said.

Madlingozi released his debut album Vukani in 1996 and since then he has never looked back.

He released popular songs like Ndiyagodola, Baleka, Doli to mention a few, but for Madlingozi, out of his 14 albums, it was his second release, Sondela that cemented his presence in the music industry.

“It had different sounds and talked about love in the simplest way,” he said.

Madlingozi dismissed suggests that he was trying to make a comeback in the industry as he has been relatively quiet and his music not enjoying much airplay on national radio and TV stations as before.

“I would not call it a comeback. I never went anywhere. I have been around. It is just that people tend to listen to different things and come back again.

“In fact, it is people coming back, rather than me making a come back. I have always been here,” he said.

Ringo said until this day, people still appreciated him for the music he was making.

“Others tell me that they were on the brink of breaking up, but through my music, they managed to mend things. That is what motivates me to carry on giving them the music they know me for,” he said.