BY PHUMZILE NDLOVU
MBABANE – Music meets poetry!
MillanoSings, a local musician who does Afro-Pop, has collaborated with local poet Christian Maz for his new song titled ‘Ngikhumbule’.
The song will be released on March 8. Born Sive Millan Vilakati from Manzini, MillanoSings started making major moves in 2019, where he was recognised by South Africa’s award-winning Passion Master, who invited him over. They made a song titled ‘Hafpass-thu’, featuring him and Jay Spitter. It made waves for him in Mpumalanga, and from there, he never looked back.
We caught up with him, and he shared his journey, challenges, and milestones. This is what he had to say.
When did you start working on your music?
I have been in the music scene since 2013. I have been working in and out of South Africa for performances, which has gained me some collaborations with other Mpumalanga musicians like Mr. Chozen, Rambo S, DJ Tpz, Thwasa, Frank Mabeat, and many more.
Last year, in April, I welcomed my daughter, and I became a father, so I took a step back from music to focus on raising her.
Since I wasn’t releasing anything for almost the whole of last year, I learned a lot of stuff. I gave myself to God in the process, thinking of everything going on and the challenges some people face every day. It is a song asking God to remember me and everyone who is going through tough times, no matter what it is. It is a very spiritual song. I don’t even remember how I wrote it because I was praying and I ended up singing about it on a beat.
Why did you choose Christian Maz for the collaboration?
I felt there was a missing element in the song. I looked but found nobody fit for what I wanted. Then I reached out to Christian Maz, and he was blown away by the snippet I sent him. We set a date, and we had a very successful studio session. We had a couple of photo shoots, and we also shot the promo video, which people loved a lot.
Christian Maz’s sentiments on the collaboration
As an artist, I believe in collaborations. Working together with other artists helps you grow; hence, we teamed up with Millanno on this project.
To me, this song is more like a prayer; it is an honest plea to God that He may hear our prayers as we push our dreams. Even our costume in the song says it all. It is the story of every black child who is pushing dreams. We come from broken backgrounds, but we have a dream that one day we will change our situations. Our hope is that this song will inspire many and give hope to other upcoming artists. I will also want to encourage other artists to exploit any available opportunities for collaboration. This not only helps you grow as an artist but also strengthens the industry as a whole. Lastly, I would like to urge emaSwati to support this project.
How is the competition in the industry?
I feel there is no competition in the industry because we sing in different ways, we are all talented as musicians, and each and every one of us has a different style of singing, but thechallange is that our artists in the country don’t want to work with each other. I don’t know if it’s pride or what, but we can take the world by storm if we can be united as local musicians. This is a single thing, and I pray it changes my life for the better and everyone else’s.
Who would you still like to work with in the future?
I will be working with Christian Maz on a few projects since we have discovered the potential we have to move great music forward.
My wish is to work with a number of artists on one song, like Mr. Kangaroo, Dibadiba,Selly, Mellzie, etc., and promote the spirit of unity.
What would you advise an aspiring artist?
This is no child’s play; they must know if you want to get into this, you must not be in it for money but for the love of the music, and you must be consistent to make it.
To reach out to Millano, you can email millanothevocalist@gmail.com or contact 76652802/79580103 on Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram at @MillanoSings.
