Ndongwe Jameson Shirinda, musician and head of sound for Big Brother and Big Brother Africa. Picture: Supplied
Ndongwe has done a great job balancing between his music career and his role as sound engineer for Big Brother Africa.
He was born Ndongwe Jameson Shirinda at Makhasa village in Malamulele and is the ninth son of the late Shangaan music legend General MD Shirinda with his wife Dorris Chauke.
Ndongwe is from a music family and grew up listening to his father’s music. General MD Shirinda is considered to be the first traditional music artist to record an album.
Today, Ndongwe has been in the music industry for over 25 years. He was in a group called Miyakayaka Na Vamakwavo, formed by his brother Miyakayaka Robert Shirinda in 1996.
In 1998, he was assigned as a keyboard player for the group, and while at school in 2004, he had a chance to record his first album titled Murhandziwa Mthavini, which was released in 2005.
He worked as a sound engineer during the same period at Dan Chauke’s Mali ya Tika Studio, a role he performed for two years.
He went to enrol for a sound engineering course. From 2006 to 2008 after obtaining his diploma, he was appointed as a part-time lecture at the same college, where his duties were to teach sound engineering.
From there, he freelanced as a sound engineer Big Brother Mzansi, Big Brother Naija and Big Brother Africa.
During his free time, he would head to studio pursue his love for music.
Ndongwe has had many popular hits over the the years, the latest being Hangalakani, which he is currently promoting. In addition, he has produced songs for General MD Shirinda, HT Mahamba, Solly Makamu, Miyakayaka Shirinda, Tshami Boy, MK Xikatawa, DJ Mfundhisi and many others.
Reflecting on the Big Brother journey, he said he started watching the show on television in 2007 and wished to be involved in the next season, which was Big Brother Africa 3 at the time.
“I applied to the show in 2008 July and I was taken and started working since then as a sound operator until I became the head of department, the position since 2014 to date. I am the head of sound of Big Brother SA and Big Brother Naija,” Ndongwe said.
It is a remarkable achievement for Ndongwe, who started developing an interest in sound engineering by chance. He explained: “My father was a musician; listening to his music, I realised that people he worked with were not doing the right mixing and mastering for his music. So, I decided to pursue a career in sound engineering so I could work on his music and make it sound proper.”
Pretoria News
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