Dr Malinga talks about his debut album, First Injection, writes Munya Vomo
Dr Malinga is a mixture of comedy, confidence and pure talent. He has not been too aware of his successes and as such seems like just a regular guy. Until he steps onto the stage.
With his much-anticipated album First Injection now officially out (Tonight wrote about the project in November, when the album was initially touted for release), the Via Orlando hit-maker spoke about his journey and why he took so long to pull the project together.
“I can sing everything from gospel to house and I have done songs like Jika, Father To Be, Casanova and Via Orlando. Dr Malinga is signed under Kalawa Jazmee Records so they tell me what to do. If they say my album won’t be out this year, then it won’t. If I go to an interview, they will dictate whatever they want me to tell the viewers. If they say: ‘Tell them the album is coming out’, I will say that, but when it doesn’t, people think I am lying,” he said.
After the success of Via Orlando (2012), the energetic performer was ready to make it big in the music industry.
“I was dying to release an album, but they told me to hold back the project and give other artists a chance. So in that time songs like Y-tjukutja (from Uhuru) and Ngoku (from Busiswa) were released. I believe so many people think Dr Malinga has no album up to today because I was lying every year. If I got a chance to be on TV, I’d lie and say the album was coming out when it wasn’t. I have to be honest here. I don’t know who to blame,” he explained.
Yet the singer who believes in himself so much that he speaks in the third person could not be deterred.
“I am doing very well. Album or no album, people love Dr Malinga,” he said.
He reflected on how he started out at Kalawa Jazmee, explaining how much energy he had and the pressure he was under to perform.
“The first day at Kalawa in 2011, I composed seven songs in one night. I went there to meet Oskido and convinced him to sign me. We both knew what we wanted. I went into his studio and they gave me a beat and asked me what I could do with it. At the time there were rumours that I had stolen the lyrics to Casanova so I think these guys wanted to test if I could write. They gave me a pen and paper and I could not use that because I am a freestyler. In no time I had seven songs and by then the studio was full because Oskido had called some people to come and see me in action,” he recalled.
With such brilliance and zeal, it is no wonder Dr Malinga is one of South Africa’s favourite performers. Yet he was surprisingly understanding about being sidelined as other artists got the limelight.
“I can’t blame them for delaying the project because Oskido wanted to show the world that a person can rock without an album. And he did that with Dr Malinga. So I rocked everywhere, sometimes more than those with albums. I was lucky because when DJs feature artists, people do not remember the artist, they remember the DJ, but in my case it was vice versa. They know that Dr Malinga is the one singing on Via Orlando,” he said.
Now that First Injection is finally out, Dr Malinga cannot hide his elation at the fact that the spotlight is once again on him.
“The album has 14 tracks and after the first seven songs I worked on another seven. I wanted to save petrol so I did all the songs again in very little time. So I did not have to come back and forth. We shot a video for Thandaza featuring Heavy K. We are also doing a cover version of Stimela’s Living Your Life. There are 11 house tracks and three slow jams,” he explained.
Yet fans may notice there is no Via Orlando on the new album. This is because it is, in fact, a Vetkuk and Mahoota track.
“I can’t go to any festival and not play that song. They would kill me. If I was one of the owners at Kalawa then I would have put Via Orlando on my album. I think they should have added it as a bonus track because people expected it,” he confessed.
Nothing about the performer is accidental and as he reflected on where he started out, it became clear that he was destined for greater things.
“I think Dr Malinga is very intelligent and has wisdom. Wisdom comes from God and everything I do is planned. Even those kicks, I planned them. I started as a promoter at a furniture shop and would play house and dance to Oskido and Arthur’s songs. People would laugh and I realised they loved what I did. This was around 1998 and I would get paid R200. Then Fair Deal asked me to join them. I asked for R1 200 per shift and they agreed. Then when Lewis came through, I was charging R2 500,” he said.
With that mindset he worked hard on his image, aiming to be omnipresent.
“I knew the music side was fine, my voice was good and the energy was fine. But my image still needed to be fixed. I wanted people to think of me in every way possible. When you win a promotion at work and you jump like I do, I want people to think of Malinga. So I registered the Malinga brand. People have called me in the past to ask for the suits I wear for their weddings. This all started when Oskido gave me a suit for a show and I didn’t like the look so I cut off the sleeves and legs. Then that became my look and I would go to Small Street in Joburg to buy more suits which I had to cut, too. I wore bright colours and people liked it,” he offered, adding he’s in talks with Edgars to supply his suits nation-wide because there is demand.
So if all else fails, at least the doc can always turn to fashion!
• First Injection is in all music stores.