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Cornelius Luphahla, Showbiz Reporter
MARTIN Sibanda, the Ndolwane Super Sounds frontman’s anticipated new album Konke Sizokulungisa has been leaked — a month before its scheduled release.

Chronicle Showbiz has it on good authority that Ndolwane Super Sounds is feeling the loss of being hacked by music pirates both in Zimbabwe and South Africa as the new album is now viral on virtual space and shared for free on popular social media sites.

Konke Sizokulungisa was set to be brought to the public on April 29 at a premiere pencilled for the Hillbrow Theatre in South Africa. This comes as a cold shock to Sibanda and crew who a month ago announced with excitement the release of their second album in five years.

According to close sources in South Africa, where the group recorded the new album, Sibanda found his new album being sold in Cosmo City in Johannesburg on March 28 and began to attack his managers, blaming them for pirating his album.

Sibanda is one of the popular rhumba musicians in Zimbabwe and is based in South Africa. His manager Denzel Dube told Chronicle Showbiz that their album leaked from the Freddy Tondele Studios so they suspect it was an inside job.

“This is saddening. The new album has leaked. This is the work of music pirates and we suspect it was done by workers at the recording studio.

“I’m very angry and so disappointed about this incident. Now we’re carrying out serious investigations and hunting down suspects. I’m going to the police station to report the incident so as to find the perpetrators,” said Dube.

“The problem is that the album is in the studio which means this was done from the inside. If this keeps on happening, I think we’ll leave the music industry.”

Thandazani Nyoni, one of the band’s music directors said he was at a loss of words. He said although the album has leaked, it was not yet polished and properly mastered.

“I heard about this sad news of the leaked album. It’s out on the streets by crooked means, but not yet polished and I’m not happy about it because it’s difficult to release the album and we’ve lost out. However, I promise our fans that this won’t stop our album launch on April 29 at Hillbrow Theatre in South Africa,” said Nyoni.

When contacted, Sibanda professed ignorance on the matter. “I’m busy now. I don’t know anything,” said the musician before hanging up.

Tondele, the owner of Freddy Tondele Studios said he was aware of the album leak and revealed it was the first time his studio had such a problem.

He said he did not know who had leaked the album and said he was disgruntled because some people were blaming him.

“It’s true that Martin Sibanda’s album leaked, but I don’t know how it happened because it’s Martin Sibanda and I who have this album on our hard drives,” said Tondele.

“This is my first time to have such an incident in my studio. I’d like to advise the fans to be patient and wait for the official album launch. The problem is that some people are insulting me on Facebook and WhatsApp, tarnishing my image. They say I’m the one who did it.”

Since the news of the leak surfaced, Ndolwane fans on social media platforms have criticised the band for being careless.