Rethabile ‘Sivuyile’ Silindela is a musician from Flagstaff, Mbangweni in the Eastern Cape. He studied at Sithukuthezi Senior Secondary School. He started music in 1996, singing with his family gospel group, “Gospel of Holy Spirit”.
At that time, I had no direction. I moved to Kwaito music in 1997, then switched to Afropop in 1998 after being inspired by the legendary Brenda Fassie’s Memeza.
I remember that in 2011 was when I could see that I do not just like music, I live it. I did street performances and sold CDs. In 2016, I met some people who told me I have to invest on a single instead of releasing loads of albums. I got advice from the likes of Simphiwe Shembe and Mondli Mzizi to head for Johannesburg where talent is easily recognised. After doing so, I recorded a single, ‘Tribute’ in 2017.
That song scored me a recording deal for the first time in my life with Kasi 4lifetainment. That song was heard by Zahara and I later made a deal with Music Lives Here (MLH) records, a company owned by Zahara. The circumstances made me go back to Kasi 4lifetainment. Going forward, I worked with Bhavani and Sony.
This is where I decided to form my own company, Reotainment, which led me to meet my current working partner, Mr Nkosinathi Redman.
The Afropop artist went on to swoop a SATMA at his first time entering the competition.
SATMA award is a very big thing especially that it was my first time entering. There were other singers from the province at the awards that did not win which made me realise that this journey is not an easy one. In the Eastern Cape province, as of 2022, I am the only artist that came back with a SATMA award which meant a lot to me.
There are many collaborations that I see coming. People can expect to hear me with Sjava, Duncan, Bongo Riot, Black Diamond and Zukile a new artist. This is prior to the album that I expect to be released on the 14th of February 2023.