Legendary South African singer Ringo Madlingozi attributes Heritage Day to language, clothing, land and people.
The musician who has been in the entertainment industry for close to four decades, recently chatted with Independent Media Lifestyle about what heritage means to him.
What does Heritage Day mean to you?
Heritage, for me, is the day that I should be reminding me of who I am. A day that asks me of what will I be leaving behind when my time has come to leave this world.
How will you be celebrating Heritage Day?
I will be with the people that are very close to me, laughing, playing, talking, dancing and doing everything that makes us happy.
How does your heritage contribute to the music that you make?
It gives me content and context of what I should be recording within my music for the coming generation to learn and understand, because it is the storage and a conveyor of our everyday experiences.
What is your favourite local song?
“Not Yet Uhuru” by Letta Mbulu. It was just two years after we were told that we are free and that there was a new dispensation for us all in our country, then Mama Letta came with words of wisdom, through her music, that we are not yet free.
Today, we are still fighting the same battles, going through the same arguments, crying and fighting for what is basically ours.
We are still facing the same, if not more problems, that we found ourselves with when the song was released in 1996.
Which artists do you feel best encapsulates SA’s heritage through their music?
Myself, Lucky Dube, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, Busi Mhlongo, Brenda Fassie, Jabu Khanyile, Thandiswa Mazwai, Zahara, Miriam Makeba, Letta Mbulu, Hugh Masekela, Caiphus Semenya, Jonas Gwangwa, McCoy Mrubata and Lebo Mathosa.