Linkeng’s snapshot from Zakemo’s Dance Affairs music video
Mohalenyane Phakela
LERIBE-BORN songbird, Linkeng Machema is set for an extensive tour of Lesotho and South Africa that is aimed at broadening her popularity while promoting her debut album, Ngoan’a Mosotho which is scheduled for release later in the year.
Machema’s tour which will run from April to June, will include nine South African provinces, beginning with Gauteng (Johannesburg) and end in Lesotho. The exact dates and venues are yet to be confirmed.
“The purpose of the tour is to take my music to the people and introduce Linkeng as an artiste,” Machema told the Weekender in an interview this week.
“My record label, Wisdom Entertainment, has already released my two singles, 4:30 and Ka Itholla in Lesotho and South Africa.
“The tour will include performances as well as radio and television interviews in all the provinces in South Africa and I will also do the same in my home country before the end of June.
“The tour will be supported by my fellow record label artistes such as the Hip Hop duo Mad on Dough as well as Tylo of Invaders of Africa.”
Linkeng was a poet during her high school days and she was a great fan of internationally acclaimed musicians such as Norah Jones, Nina Simone, Jill Scott and Dinah Washington.
Her musical career blossomed in 2015 through the singles What You Do, Yonk’into and Fall For You.
In the same year she worked with Severe Agony as well as Zagro DJs as a vocalist and it was through their video which was posted on YouTube that she was discovered by South African stable, Wisdom Entertainment.
Upon signing with them last year, she was featured on Zakemo’s Dance Affairs which received a lot of airplay on the African music video station, Channel O.
Linkeng also won the Entertainment Category of the Finite Women Appreciation Award in 2015 and also got nominated for the same category last year.
“I was discovered on YouTube and what I considered to be a joyful performance with my homeboys Lala and Zagro DJs ended up changing my life in more ways than I could have ever imagined.
“I have since worked on the Zakemo project, which is distributed and released under Warner Music SA. I was featured on two tracks on his album and one of them being the album title: Dance Affairs. We are now focused on promoting Linkeng.”
“I yearn dearly for my brand to continue growing outside the borders of Lesotho. My short term goal is my album release through one of the major record labels in South Africa in conjunction with my base independent record label Wisdom Entertainment Holdings.
“I am also pleading with Lesotho event organisers to give local artistes the platform to share our talents like how Durban tourism supports its artistes. We need the support at home before people out there can even begin to believe in us,” she said.
