Support your own female musicians: Lira

Standard Style
Local music lovers need to lend female musicians an ear to see them match or surpass the bar set by their male counterparts, South African Afro-soul singer Lerato “Lira” Molapo has said.

Local music lovers need to lend female musicians an ear to see them match or surpass the bar set by their male counterparts, South African Afro-soul singer Lerato “Lira” Molapo has said.

By Kennedy Nyavaya

The fairer sex has had a torrid time establishing flourishing music careers in the fiercely competitive industry and have always had to work twice as hard for less than what males get.

Responding to questions during a press conference before her electric performance on Thursday night, Lira — a multi-platinum selling artiste and 11-time South African Music Award-winning vocalist — said it was the responsibility of fans to alter the exclusionary status quo.

“I will have to throw it back to the Zimbabwean people. You have to support your own women so that they also get a chance and it is going to have to be your responsibility,” said Lira, encouraging fans to “buy their music, show up at their shows.”

“If you like the music that the women are putting out, then it is up to you Zimbabweans to push them and I always say if you do not do it for a musician, think about if you had a daughter who wanted to get into the music industry, would it touch you a little bit more personally then?”

Apart from segregation by promoters who prefer male artistes, women also endure a litany of abuses, including sexual and financial exploitation.

“I feel as women we need to have a little bit of no nonsense. Sometimes when you are a little flower people can just take advantage, so you have to grow a bit of thorns,” she said.

“I surrounded myself with the right kind of team and that sort of gave me a sense of security in the streets.”

Meanwhile, Lira gave a breathtaking performance matching the strong words of advice she dished out before the show where she singled out talent and hard work as the recipe for success.

“I know there are a lot of challenges with resources back here and to see your talent grow you still have to work the best that you can. So, talent alone is not enough because you still have to sharpen it to bring the best that you can,” she said.

Having travelled and performed at different stages around the world, Lira urged artistes to draw inspiration from their limitations because “usually when opportunities are less that is where the greatest chance lies”.

During her performance, some people could be seen singing along to the night’s playlist, mostly in vernacular, signalling that they were accustomed to her music.

She did what most Zimbabweans may not be capable of once they fly out of the country’s borders because their music is confined to the local audience.

“I wish we were like America, for instance, where when a Zimbabwean artiste releases something it’s instantly available throughout the continent, but even our digital platforms are limited to one’s country, which is highly frustrating,” said Lira.

She attributed that to a flawed royalty accounting system leading other artistes to shy away from putting music online.

“Of the systems that are already in place there is no means of accounting for income, so it is still a challenge that we have in Africa and hopefully it will change,” she said.