Press Article

2004 March 17   "Nkabinde is the real makoya"
Publication: Sunday Sun
Byline: Mandla Motau

Seasoned artist Concord Nkabinde believes that suppressed creativity is one of the aspects that drives artists to drug abuse and other destructive ways. He says this is partly due to the fact that artists are scared to be original.
The bassist, who recently released his debut album, The time, The season, says he decided to release his own album through his own company to avoid doing exactly that.
Record companies do not have the artists’ interests at heart.
“Albums get released and are given a time frame to sell and if that does not happen they are tucked away. You must understand that some albums take time to sink into the hearts of audiences” Nkabinde says.
“Over the past few months I have learnt how the industry works. The more someone else does things on your behalf, the less you learn about the industry yourself”.
Nkabinde says that since the release of the album he has been conducting workshops to show other artists that there are other options to being signed up by record companies.
He has been receiving calls from people wanting to know how much it costs to put up and release an album.
In his album Nkabinde intends to say: “Now is the time for people to take up opportunities and use them fully.
“The world is crazy about what is coming out of South Africa and unless we seize the moment, doors might close right on our faces”.
He adds that through his travels he has interacted with other cultures and “got to appreciate my heritage more. Hence this album about Zulu-meets-Spanish or Zulu-meets-Chinese. It is accessible to a broader world audience”.
Nkabinde currently plays with Johnny Clegg, and together with Gloria Bosman and Mabeleng Moholo, they have done collaborative work with artists from Finland. He has also worked with Ray Phiri and Gito Baloi with artists from Norway.
He has since worked with acts like Zim Ngqawana, Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Neo Muyanga and Joyous Celebration and produced the last album by the late Wendy Mseleku.