DJ CLEO: AN INSPIRING SUCCESS FOR ALL GENERATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Transcription

1 Human history teaches that the advancement of nations is due, inter alia, to the rise of men whose achievements in various fields inspire their compatriots and contribute to their emancipation from the thralls of mediocrity toward excellence. In other words, important achievements of some men spur the curiosity of others, leading them to effort to go beyond and realize greater things. In ancient Greece, the publication of Homer s Odyssey and Iliad, after unleashing the energies of each Greek toward self-fulfillment and individual material acquisitiveness (because of its divination of man and the humanization of the gods), later led to another threshold: the invention of morality by Socrates, who emphasized that the substance of man is freedom; that the divine oracle, the universal truth, lies within each man (not in established external powers: religion, customs, family, state, etc.); that it is up to man to know himself if he wants to achieve the good. In contemporary times, the electronic inventions of Microsoft, having stirred up more research, drove to those of Apple. The same liberating influence can be read in the artistic achievement of DJ Cleo. But before demonstrating this, let s know who this man is. 1 / 7

2 1. HIS IDENTITY Born Tlou Cleophas Monyeopao, on the 24 th of December 1979, in Vosloorus, in the East Rand, South Africa, DJ Cleo is a South African producer, songwriter, and founder/owner of a music label designated Will of Steel Productions, which is specialized in the production of kwaito and house music styles. His musical genius was predictable since, music being his calling; he commenced his musical career at the tender age of ten. To sharpen his innate talent, he grabbed the opportunity offered by his stint at Allenby Campus to master the sound engineering and acquire programming and engineering skills. This education made him a master of instrumentals and musical programming and engineering. Thereafter he met with Ashifa Shabba who gave him the opportunity to work in radio at YFM in As a fish under the water, Cleo enjoyed his work time there, producing and deejaying songs for the radio. So prompt and powerful was his impact that this maestro contemplated producing full music for both himself and others. Without delay he recorded his debut hit song Will of Steel which featured on DJ Glen Lewis/DJ Fresh s double CD compilation, Gatecrasher. As one could expect, Will of Steel became a huge success, heralding greater things to come and drawing to him more and more musicians seeking Cleo s producing their albums. It equally provided him with the wherewithal to start Will of Steel Productions (Pty) LTD, his wholly owned label, production and publishing house. And he never looked back. On the one hand, DJ Cleo utilized his unique, exceptional sound engineering and programming skills to become the midwife of a new breed of post-apartheid star musicians. He has left an indelible mark on the rise of such music industry luminaries as Mandoza, Kabelo, Brickz, Pitch Black Afro, Mzekezeke, Brown Dash, Skwatta Kamp, and Doc Shebeleza. For having influenced and propelled the music careers of these award-winning and top-selling artists, DJ Cleo can be rightly dubbed the godfather of the new South Africa s pop music, as far as the black majority is concerned. For instance, he is the midwife of the Kwaito style the cultural lifeblood of liberated South Africans, just as the rumba style is to the Congolese and the sungura style to the Zimbabweans inasmuch as he catapulted to superstardom Mandoza, its King. In short, DJ Cleo has shattered the apartheid-dating barriers for younger generations, which have found role-models in these music greats he has propelled upward, to shine on the musical scene of South Africa, the continent and the world. 2 / 7

3 On the other hand, DJ Cleo is the father and king of a new style of music in South Africa: the house music. This genre is artistically derived from disco and characterized by features such as the 4/4 beat structure (a high tempo rhythm dominated by the onomatopoeia uhn tiss uhn tiss ), and the mixture of synthesizers, funk, and soul rhythms. It is also the easiest dance music genre to combine with other genres to produce a new sound, like disco house, electro house, and tribal house. Moreover, the genre is essentially destined to be consumed in night clubs and not to the broader public, hence its esoteric, or house, character where it is sold to the closed audience by DJs. It originates in Chicago in the 70s but exploded in the 80s, when its tracks were played heavily at the Warehouse, a popular Chicago nightclub by DJ Frankie Knuckles, thus becoming warehouse music, or simply house music. Last, another feature of this genre is the artisanal character of its production, that is, involving a low cost and a simple, a hopped release of songs on cassettes for immediate consumption in nightclubs which led to its nightclub culture and mythology. Therefore, DJ Cleo s sound engineering and programming skills naturally predisposed him to introduce the house music to the South African market. The revered producer has been exposing the kwaito and house genres to the world through his artworks. He released in 2004 his first solo album, a compilation of his songs recorded since the beginning of his career in Then followed in 2005 Es khaleni Zone 3, which reached dizzying levels of success and confirmed him as a singing great; and given the high demand of it on the market, he released Es khaleni Zone 3 Remix the following year. Then the success album was superseded by Es khaleni Phase 4 (2007), Es khaleni Unit 5 (2008), Es khaleni 6 (2009), and Es khaleni 7 (2010). In 2011 his career made another leap forward with the hurling into the market of the album As khaleni Phase 8, which carries the hit song 3 / 7

4 Sizohlangana KoFacebook. The later tackles the new challenges brought about by the social networking phenomenon and, three years later, is still a sensation on radio and TV stations and in the nigthtlubs. 3. DJ CLEO: A COMPLEX PERSONALITY The complexity of DJ Cleo s personality can be perceived in both his superstardom, his decision to embrace a new career in football, and the polemic stirred up about his sexual orientation. First of all, his fame as a superstar musician is unanimously acknowledged. Apart from the fact that Will of Steel Productions (Pty) Ltd has been spawning new post-apartheid musical generations, the genial artist is being solicited to contribute to the success of outstanding projects in the art field. He did work on the soundtrack for the Oscar-winning feature film Tsotsi. He also had a recurring role as a freelance producer who works for Zondi Entertainment Enterprise in the e.tv soapie Rhythm City. He is equally known for appearing in the travel documentary-series Vaya Mzanzi, in which he and DJ Angie Khumalo ride around South Africa on motorbikes to unearth interesting stories political, historical, criminal, and ideological all seen through the eyes of local people. Finally, he has travelled all over the world, exhibiting his skill. He has had recording stints with the likes of Keith Murray of the United States, as well as a couple of remixes. What is even more striking is the sustainability of his success. This is due to factors including his engineering education, his undying sense of perfection, and his blatant rejection of aging and fading away. To illustrate this rejection, he said: Look at even Quincy Jones. At 79, he has made an impact. I want to be like that, I want to have that kind of an impact. 4 / 7

5 Second, DJ Cleo is a complex personality because he recently embraced a new professional career in football. He has decided to be a goalkeeper of the Premier Soccer League football club Bidvest Wits, where he is undergoing a trial with the hope of securing a contract. He justifies his decision on three grounds: (1) in his tender age, he had trained and played as a member of Kaiser Chiefs under-15 before opting for the music career; this means he s about to fulfill his childhood dream, even though he s turned 34. Keepers can go till 40, he said. (2) He enjoys the support of his family and former great goalkeepers, which matters the most. Indeed, during an interview by Thabiso Tema at Power FM, he stated: I convened a meeting with my family and broke the news to them and I m glad they supported it, adding that, after approaching former Kaizer Chiefs keeper William Shongwe and former Mamelodi Sundowns keeper Brian Baloyi and asking them to help him hone his skills, They obliged without any hesitation and I m thankful. (3) He incessantly believes in the will to power and its capacity to bring the unknown to existence a belief that was at the core of his success. He confesses: I m very driven 98.7 percent of everyone I ve told that I want to play soccer laughed at me. One of the Sunday papers this weekend actually ridiculed me. It s such things that get me going All my struggles in the music industry made me realize that, once I started succeeding, I then realize I m driven, and if you persevere, nothing will stop you from achieving what you want The message is, You can do it. If you can dream it, you can live it. Third, the complexity of DJ Cleo s personality is compounded by his ability to stir up polemic, just like many other greats across the world do in the field of Orpheus s art. He recently astounded many by declined the invitation of the radio station Metro FM, his former employee, to show up at its annual local music awards. Indeed, the station s event producers, Blue Moon Corporate Communication, had asked him to come and perform his song Mbizo Rocker with maskandi king Phuzekhemisi and Durban s hot talent Zakes Bantwini. According to the hitmaking superstar, the reason of his unusual rejection of the lucrative offer by the biggest commercial radio station owned by SABC with up to six million listeners, is principle: Metro FM is not playing my music, why do they want me to come perform the same music at their event? I lodged several complaints through official channels at the SABC, but nothing has been done. In as much as I need the money, I am not going to do it. My decision to shun the invite is based on principles," he said. However, Blue Moon Corporate Communication, through SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago, contradicted him, saying that the station had not been playing Cleo s music because he had not been submitting it to the music committee. He stopped submitting his music to the station; that is why we have not been playing it. It is unfortunate that he took a decision to not be part of the event and we made other arrangements, the spokesman said. Even if it is hard to identify who tells the truth, what is certain is that this 5 / 7

6 polemic is good for the artist: it contributes to the sustainability of his fame and fortune by giving to the public the perception that he is a victim, or better a martyr, of a vicious capitalist music industry. The second illustration of this negative marketing of Cleo s image is the accusation made by his former protégés, the Kwaito star Brickz and Mayo, that the revered artist is a gay. They claimed in 2009 to a Sunday tabloid that he used to spank and caress them, and would slump into a feminine sulk if he saw his artists with their girlfriends, leading the girls to feeling uncomfortable. This is why, the accusation continues, Brickz broke up with his girlfriend and R&B sing Elle, and quit Will of Steel Productions. Replying to the accusation, Cleo pointed out that the reason of the divorce is Brickz cheated on the R&B singer, and that both Brickz and Mayo are bitter and jeopardizing their lives with drug abuse. I don t have time for bitter people. Brickz is a cheat. He can t blame me for his separation from Elle I m pleading with people to stop taking drugs. I m sitting with three of his Sama statues that he wanted to sell in order to buy drugs. Now he doesn t have money because of drugs and he is talking sh*t about me Mayo has been in the industry for many years he must get a life. When I was in standard 7 (Grade 9), Mayo was a struggling artist. Even now he has not improved. People will say anything about me because of poverty, he retaliated. The sexual orientation of the King of House music is not an issue at all for we don t care about it in this liberal-democratic country. The bottom line here is that once more this polemic has added spice to the world of music lovers and made DJ Cleo a victim of unsuccessful, bitter artists. In this case he is once again a winner. 4. CONCLUSION 6 / 7

7 To conclude, DJ Cleo stands out upon the South African music scene as a revolutionary and a demiurge. In the post-apartheid South Africa, he is to the music industry what Nelson Mandela is to politics, having shattered barriers for many young black musical aspirants. He is a colossus of Africa. However, he still has a long way ahead. Given his status, he could be a greater blessing for African peoples if he does more to releases albums that champions pan-african causes by addressing issues of poverty, maladministration, civil wars, down pulling spirituality, dictatorship, women s and children s conditions, AIDS, etc., and show the way forward. Once he embraces this pathway, he must be sure that he enjoys all our support in our capacity as African Union institutions, African governments and civil society organizations, and goodwill children of our beloved continent. Go ahead, DJ Cleo, and may God guide your steps. 7 / 7