To watch a colleague collapse on stage during a performance is a traumatic ordeal to experience. South Africans learnt with shock that musician Costa Titch collapsed and died over the weekend.
He 28 years old when he died.
Tshedi Mholo of Malaika fame says Costa’s death has triggered her. She's thinking about her own experiences with fellow band members collapsing. Tshedi was in the group with Jabu Ndaba and Bongani Nchang.
Speaking to Drum very emotionally and in a somber mood, Tshedi says Costa’s death reminds her just how unkind the music industry can be.
“I did not know Costa personally, but I am not okay since his death, it’s taking me back to very sad moments.”
She recounts how on one incident, one of her band members, who she doesn’t want to name, was on and off stage during a performance.
“It was very strange because he would get off stage and he would come back holding his chest, eventually he got off stage and went to the bus. We cut the performance short and we raced to him. When we got there, I asked if we needed to take him to the hospital and he nodded.
“We rushed to Pretoria Heart Hospital and when we got there, the doctor said he had to be rushed to theatre because there was some blockage somewhere. He was shocked that he had even survived the drive to the hospital. He spent four months in high care and then he was discharged. But obviously he still could not perform.
“While he was at home recovering, we had other gigs and I remember we had a gig in Cape Town and at the airport, the other band member collapsed. We were already at the boarding gates. Paramedics attended to him and we got on the flight. On arrival in Cape Town, I suggested that we go to the hospital, the doctor said he had to be admitted over night because he needed a blood transfusion.”
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Tshedi says it is very hard to talk about all of these things because the music industry is so demanding and artists are expected to be happy and in great shape all the time.
“You will remember how in demand Malaika was. Managers, promoters and fans wanted so much out of us. We had several performances in a single night and that can take a toll on person’s health.”
She breaks down in tears as she speaks of how the passing of one of their band members, Jabu Ndaba, affected her.
“We were going to perform in Namibia and at the airport he became unwell. We had to leave him at the airport with the road manager so that we could go ahead with the performance. It was heartbreaking. Can you imagine being on stage, smiling, dancing and entertaining fans after hearing that your friend has been tied up because he started fighting off the people who were trying to help him? He was confused, in a foreign country and we had to carry on like nothing was happening.
“Then after the gigs we had booked there we couldn’t stay because it would have cost us money. The original accommodation and travel costs had been covered by the promoter. Then we could not talk about it even when we got back to the country. We did not even know how to break the news to his family.”
Tshidi says Jabu was brought back into South Africa but was left at the border of the two countries where his family had to collect him in Upington.
“He left with us for work and that is how his family had to find him, there had to be a handover at the border.”
She says he was on and off for months as his health deteriorated. He died less than a year later in 2008.
“It was hard facing his mother, his son and the rest of his family.”
Now years after the incidents, she says she does not even see any prospects of the group reuniting. She says a lot has happened and a lot has been said.
“We went through a lot as a group. Honestly, I do not see it (a reunion) happening.
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“After Jabu’s death we also lost a manager by suicide. I had spoken to him one afternoon and early the following morning I was told he was found hanging in the garage. He had a note in his pocket saying he did not want anyone from the music industry at his funeral.
“It was hard, yho it was very hard. There was no therapy or closure. At the time there was also no mercy from the media. I was pregnant and there were stories in the papers every weekend. It was really a difficult time.”
She and Bongani did not see eye to eye after she took over managing the group following their manager’s death.
“He is a man, and I am a woman and there was a clash of egos about how things should run.”
The two haven’t spoken since 2021.
“Sikhulile (we have grown) and we need to re-establish ourselves as individual artists. The truth is that this is a very patriarchal industry.”
Last year, she says, SAMRO helped her to study music business and she has learned a lot about how things have changed since they were topping the charts as the award-winning ensemble.
She is now working on her autobiography which she wants to release before September.
“I think the world deserves to hear my story in my own words. I am not going to diss or shame anyone, but I am going to be truthful. People must know that we are also human.”
