RICHARD Siluma, the ace producer behind Lucky Dube's success in reggae music, has released a new CD. It's called Wanna be With You.
Siluma says he is not trying to be the late reggae star, with whom he worked for so many years.
"I have been asked this question several times and my answer is No! I am not trying to be Lucky Dube. He cannot be replaced. My sound in this album might sound like Lucky, but that is simply because I have written songs and arranged them for Lucky. That is where the resemblance starts and ends.
"It is so interesting. Till this day, I am receiving demos from as far as overseas from people who sound like him. In a way, it makes me proud because I wrote a good number of Lucky Dube hits," says Siluma, who now goes by the stage name of Saggy Saggila.
He explains why he calls himself this.
"I had to reinvent myself as a South African reggae artist making beautiful reggae music that South Africans can easily connect to," he says.
His reggae album, Wanna Be With You, which is distributed by Gallo Records, is reportedly making waves abroad, especially with legal downloads doing very well, Saggy Saggila says.
"Just recently, there was a huge debate on Facebook about the album, particularly from Lucky Dube's fans internationally. The discussion centred around whether this album sounds like Lucky Dube or not. And quite interestingly, people said that this is an independent album standing on its own artistic merit," he says.
The producer worked with Dube, steering him from mbaqanga into reggae after realising that Dube was probably better as a reggae artist than as a maskandi musician. This was after releasing two traditional music albums.
"I was influenced by Jimmy Cliff when he performed at Orlando Stadium in Soweto in 1976. At that time I was selling reggae music at the mines. Reggae was the best-selling music at mines in South Africa then. And so when Lucky Dube was ready to take on reggae, that was it. The album Slave sold more than 700000 copies in 1984. It was marvellous. It was our third reggae album," Saggy Saggila says.
Saggy Saggila not imitating Lucky Dube
RICHARD Siluma, the ace producer behind Lucky Dube's success in reggae music, has released a new CD. It's called Wanna be With You.
Siluma says he is not trying to be the late reggae star, with whom he worked for so many years.
"I have been asked this question several times and my answer is No! I am not trying to be Lucky Dube. He cannot be replaced. My sound in this album might sound like Lucky, but that is simply because I have written songs and arranged them for Lucky. That is where the resemblance starts and ends.
"It is so interesting. Till this day, I am receiving demos from as far as overseas from people who sound like him. In a way, it makes me proud because I wrote a good number of Lucky Dube hits," says Siluma, who now goes by the stage name of Saggy Saggila.
He explains why he calls himself this.
"I had to reinvent myself as a South African reggae artist making beautiful reggae music that South Africans can easily connect to," he says.
His reggae album, Wanna Be With You, which is distributed by Gallo Records, is reportedly making waves abroad, especially with legal downloads doing very well, Saggy Saggila says.
"Just recently, there was a huge debate on Facebook about the album, particularly from Lucky Dube's fans internationally. The discussion centred around whether this album sounds like Lucky Dube or not. And quite interestingly, people said that this is an independent album standing on its own artistic merit," he says.
The producer worked with Dube, steering him from mbaqanga into reggae after realising that Dube was probably better as a reggae artist than as a maskandi musician. This was after releasing two traditional music albums.
"I was influenced by Jimmy Cliff when he performed at Orlando Stadium in Soweto in 1976. At that time I was selling reggae music at the mines. Reggae was the best-selling music at mines in South Africa then. And so when Lucky Dube was ready to take on reggae, that was it. The album Slave sold more than 700000 copies in 1984. It was marvellous. It was our third reggae album," Saggy Saggila says.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos