“I went with my heart in this album”

A producer, song writer and as heard by her unique, angelic voice – a singer. Zonke Dikana who has been in the music industry for over fifteen years, released her fifth album titled L.O.V.E with Sony Music Entertainment Africa in June 2018. This album appreciates her love for different things in her life. An album that had been long expected by her fans in three years waiting. The album follows a teaser that she released as a single titled Tonight in April 2018. 

Zonke, being from a musical family, has written music for many of South Africa’s famous singers, the likes of Theo Kgosinkwe, Winnie Khumalo and has now released her very own nine-track album rendering L.O.V.E.  She is respected for writing successful material for other artists for the longest time and so her success in crafting and releasing this album came as no surprise when her fans fell in love with her latest release.

In her various interviews, the ear-catching Zonke admitted that the album was crafted around her state of mind as she said all the songs in the album are about love. There were mixed emotions while writing the songs that would feature in this album, as the famous song writer would be writing a song and she would be displaying her dissatisfaction with love, or it would be at a time where she was loving love. The crafting of her latest album, L.O.V.E became a roller-coaster of many and different emotions and that is the reason for the album to be titled L.O.V.E (Living Out Various Emotions).

In this album; Zonke appreciates the love of her family, her clan and culture, and God. In the nine songs featured in her album, Zonke only collaborated with one artist, the famously known rap star Kwesta “Dakar” on one song; Soul To Keep, leaving the eight being sung as a solo.  

The album took two years to produce and Zonke was part of each step taken in the creativity aspect of the album. Some of the songs were written in a manner that one could easily find themselves laughing along while singing along the lyrics of the songs such as Best Days Of My Life. In the song, Zonke teases her fans by telling a story of how a lover’s friends could sometimes think his lady is chasing him around not knowing that he likes things that way.

The melodies of the album feature a lot of emphasized , rhythmic bassline which is something that Zonke enjoys and loves in her new album. The changes and introduction of new rhythms speak for themselves in this album and that was made sure of. Most of these songs are to be given gratitude to insomnia for as they were written and recorded at random hours of the night.  

The cover of the album is black and white for simplicity, with the eyes of the artist searching for the heart. The album opens with a song  that appreciates the self, together with her community. The song titled Ndilimpondo, an elegy to her place of birth and origin – the Eastern Cape. 

After the release of her album HEART in which Zonke said she was tired of crying, the release of L.O.V.E expresses just how grateful she is to God that time has healed her. At 38 years of age, Zonke has managed to release a happier and healthier album after losing her sister Lulu Dikana four years ago.

Zonke has come to be more appreciated by her fans for her uniqueness in the music industry as an artist. She has offered her fans so much as a solo artist, which is not always easy for some artists as they are sometimes forced to collaborate with other well-known artists to push their music.

The Afro-soul singer’s L.O.V.E album together with the single Tonight both received platinum plaques.

A Bachelor of Public Administration student in the Nelson Mandela University, known as MissTee Shazzie on air by her audience crosses paths with Broadcast journalism (radio). “Something to fall back on” is how this could be explained. Ambition is obviously not defined by what one enrolls into a university to study and graduate on but going for what they believe they can do and excel on.  

Are you undecided about the path you want to take as your career?

Yes. You know that the path of self-discovery is not easy and choosing a career is so difficult because one’s interests and their desire to do something changes daily. Today you might be interested in being a doctor then tomorrow you want to be a singer. I’m not sure yet whether to go into the corporate world and focus on my degree only or stick to my craft and join the entertainment industry or even do both. I believe that I can do both but you know how our parents are, when you tell them that “dad I want to be a DJ or radio personality” they always force us to actually go and study first and obtain a degree and that’s when they allow you to work on your talent. But I’m definitely sure about embarking in this entertainment industry journey.

Are you ever planning on making radio a full time thing that you do?

This question is something that I have been contemplating about, and to my thinking, yes because I am in love with it. Sharing my voice with the masses means a lot to me because I personally believe that being a radio personality means you are actually being the voice of the people. But I want to do more and not only focus on radio. Wherever life takes me I will go. I would love to be on your screens presenting shows and do some work behind the scenes. I’m a very creative person I enjoy creating content and making sure that my show is unique and attracts loads of listeners and that is why at Madibaz radio I work as both a presenter and a producer. Honestly there’s more to radio but for now radio is my only focus and my comfort zone and I am learning and observing more.

How did you get to be a part of the Madibaz radio crew?

It’s Funny how I joined Madibaz Radio crew. Look, I knew that I was part of the family immediately when I moved from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth to further my studies here in Nelson Mandela University. I had a feeling that they have been in search for my voice. Joining the Station was simple, I did not know anyone working from the Station. I sent my demos and videos of me presenting to the well-known Djs from the Station who has been doing Radio way before starting to study here, ’DJ Max” via Instagram. He immediately fell in love with my innate radio voice and he immediately referred me to Madibaz Radio Programmer and manager and I was instructed to follow certain procedures like on-air voice testing and through God I was then given a night show, “Night Injection” which airs every Sunday from 21:00 till midnight.

Why radio in the first place?

Radio was never in the picture. I had this bubbly personality growing up and my family would get tired of me and my endless questions and when I see that everyone was getting tired of me I would go to my bedroom and stand in front of the mirror and start talking alone and this became my daily routine. No one paid attention that the child within me had dreams, talent and the voice. In High School I enjoyed reading in front of the class, I enjoyed doing speeches and I would nail them and I would get full marks all the time. I just enjoyed talking and engaging with others, I would sometimes during lunch call my friends and interview them and name my show “#Who’sNext” and this grew I even started watching youth shows like hecticNine-9. After watching the show I would start my own show “#Who’sNext” and impersonate what those young presenters were doing so on my mind I only had on-screen dream and not radio. Fast forward, in 2017 I started to listen to radio and I fell in love with many radio voices on our commercial radio and that’s how the love for radio developed. In 2018 that is when I took the leap of faith and tried out Radio. I always tell myself that Radio chose me, I saw radio as a good platform for me to build my self-confidence and find myself, unlike television, on radio people only hear your voice but cannot see you.

Tell me about your first time interacting with the audience

My first time being on-air I had all these mixed emotions so its very hard for me to tell how I was feeling but most importantly I was excited and scared at the same time, it was my first time doing radio and the idea that most people who knew me where listening made me more scared but immediately when the mic was on, and now I had to speak and be that bubbly Thandi the experience was incredibly and I think what made it more exciting is that I resonated a lot with my show so everything was smooth and easier because first week I did not do the show alone but someone was there to guide me and she made things easy because she was kind and very helpful.

Is that feeling still there to date?

Besides being scared right? The excitement is always there. Being on-air everyday always makes it seem like it is my first time. It’s the love I have for my work.

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