Auxilia Katongomara Saturday Leisure Correspondent
EVER since she came into the limelight there has been confusion as to her roots.
South Africans and Zimbabweans both claim she is theirs. She has sent shockwaves within the musical circles across the Limpopo and her name is Berita Gugulethu Khumalo.
Saturday Leisure caught up with Berita during her visit to the country and she finally put to rest the question over her roots.
Berita said she is a Bulawayo girl and as such she is Zimbabwean. She, however, said South Africans, especially those from Eastern Cape, believe she is South African.
“I was born and grew up here in Bulawayo. I’m really surprised when people say I am South African. I have never said I am from South Africa.
“The Xhosas claim me because I am from Eastern Cape where my musical career started,” said the humble Berita.
She attributed the claim by the South Africans to her fluent Xhosa accent.
“I want to set the record straight that I am a Zimbabwean but I speak Xhosa fluently.
“But I can’t say don’t claim me because they love me as well. Eastern Cape is just like Bulawayo because is my second home. I am glad I am alive to set the record straight,” said the Thandolwethu hitmaker.
Berita attracted the fury of Zimbabweans earlier this year after she failed to acknowledge her roots at the Metro FM awards and dedicated the award to Eastern Cape.
She could, however, be justified in her own way as she claims she failed to make a breakthrough in the country.
“I remember I came for a visit in December 2011 and as a musician I approached some of the leading promoters and some places where I could have played my music but I was ignored. I tried to call them and they ended up ignoring my calls.
I wanted to show that Bulawayo has talent,” said Berita.
Maybe it is true that a prophet has no honour among his kinsmen.
Berita walked away with a gong for Best African Album at the Metro FM Awards held in South Africa in February.
This came a few weeks after she had visited the country in company of the Kalawa Jazmee family for the Woza 2013 gig at Queens Sports Club.
Those who attended the gig should vividly recall the lady who was given the chance to showcase her talent and played her guitar but was ignored by revellers.
It was after winning the gong at the Metro FM awards that many remembered her.
The award winning songbird was born at Lady Rodwell Maternity Hospital in Bulawayo in 1991.
She is the first born in a family of four, three girls and one boy.
She attended Nketa, Greenfield Primary Schools and St Martins Depors in Zhombe.
“My parents were both teachers, so I started at Nketa Primary school, went to St Martins, Greenfield and came back to Nketa again.
I come from Zhombe, that is our rural home and I make it no secret because it is my home too,” she said.
Her transfering did not stop at junior level but continued to high school as well as she moved from school to school.
“I went to a number of secondary schools. I started at John Tallach Mission School before moving to Girls High then Premier in Pumula. I left for New Zealand in 2007 when I was in Form Four with my family,” said Berita.
It was during her stay in New Zealand that she bought a guitar a few weeks before she left for Walter Sisulu University in South Africa.
“Before I left for South Africa I bought a guitar just for fun. I did not see myself as a singer to be honest. I was just an ordinary girl in choir who could not even sing as a solo.
I was always confused to the extent that if I stood next to someone who sang soprano, I would change to soprano, if it was alto, I would do the same,” she said with laughter.
When she began singing, she said she never dreamt her debut album making a significant impact in the music industry.
“At school, I would play my guitar in my room at the hostel, on the road and eventually, I would play at hospitals.
That is when I began composing tracks and came home in Nketa 6 and composed most of the tracks on the album. I got inspired after some local promoters refused to give me a chance to showcase my talent,” she said.
Her album Conquering Spirit was released in March 2012.
“After going back to South Africa, I was spotted by a radio DJ when I was visiting my uncle in Johannesburg. He took me to Alex FM and that is when I met a producer whom I worked with on my album,” said Berita.
It took about three months for her music to be played on radio stations across the Limpopo.
“After recording the album in March I was surprised to hear my friends at the campus saying they heard one of my tracks on radio. Since then it became a regular track on radio.
It was only last September when retail outlets started recording increased sales of her music.
“It is not easy to make a breakthrough in the South African music industry but I was surprised that my music was doing well in the market.
Right now my album is close to reaching gold status,” said Berita.
She was born Gugulethu Khumalo but adopted her mother’s name Berita as a stage name because she had raised her to be a strong and independent woman.
Berita, who was in the company of her manager, Luyelo Beku, said they had held collaborations with one of the talented young artistes in the country, Alexio Kawara and superstar Oliver Mtukudzi.
“I was in Harare just a few days ago and I was working with Oliver Mtukudzi. I look up to him because he is a father figure to me and we were working on a track for the future,” she said.
Berita is in her final year at Walter Sisulu University where she is studying Financial Information Systems.
She urged other fellow students to concentrate on their school work.
“I urge other students in the country, particularly Ordinary Level and Advanced Level students to focus on their school work, I am a musician but my school work comes first.
The world has changed, education is very important and the first dream must be to attain the highest level of education,” she said.
The musician said her music career was demanding but she had decided to focus on her education.
Berita also encouraged young artistes in Bulawayo to persevere in order to make it.
“The problem is that here in Bulawayo musicians are not taken seriously. Young musicians need to feel encouraged to produce quality music. I think they can make it even from here,” said the Eastern Cape based artiste.
Berita has distanced herself from claims that she is signed to Kalawa Jazmee Records.
She claims she has worked with the Kalawao co-owner Oskido but was not signed to the stable.
“There is a lot that has been said about me that is not true particularly from the Zimbabwean media and I feel I have to clarify some of it.
“For starters, I am not signed to Kalawa, I have shared the stage and worked with Oskido but he is not the one producing my music,” she said.
The young artiste narrated how she met Oskido.
“I met Oskido around October when my album was beginning to sell. I was performing and I then met Oskido backstage and he was impressed with my performance.
“He looked at my album and he liked the track Thandolwethu and asked if he could feature it on the album he was working on,” said Berita.
She said Oskido delayed the release of his album I Believe 2013 because he wanted to feature one of her tracks on his album.
“Round about that time, Oskido’s album had gone for mastering but he delayed it a bit because of that track and that is why most people think I am signed to Kalawa,” she said.
Berita has often been identified as one of Oskido’s success stories in the media and her trip to the country last December with Kalawa family for the Kalawa Invasion gig held at Queens Sports Club seemed to fuel the speculation.
The musician will be in the country for the next two weeks.