The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sunday Life Correspondent
AFTER discovering her singing talent at the age of nine, Gugulethu Monica Moyo, known as Lemoniq in music circles, is finally realising her dream of coming up with her own compositions and recording her music.
The Sizane High School A-level student announced her arrival on the music scene with an acapella track released last month, as if to highlight her unique vocal talent. The song, Ngowam’ lo, featuring Umkhathi Theatre Works, was released together with a video and introduces Lemoniq’s singing and song-writing talent, having wrote the song herself.
Ngowam’ lo is laced with afro-pop and imbube overtones imbued by the Umkhathi quartet of Ishmael Muvingi, Fidelis Tshuma, Martin Khumalo and Maqhawe Moyo. Lemoniq’s cultured and dulcet voice stands out easily as an asset that sets her apart from emerging singers and is certain to catapult her on the big stage.
Now aged 18, Lemoniq went against the grain, choosing to dive into afro-pop and jazz while her peers are focusing pop genres such as hip-hop, house and R ‘n’ B.
“Growing up I fell in love with jazz because my dad used to play the music all the time and we would be listening to songs from Hugh Masekela, Caiphus Semenya and Sipho Gumede, among others. I chose to sing afro-pop because I believe my voice is suited for that genre and I also love that music,” she says.
She said her inspiration was award winning South African songstress, Zahara and the Loliwe hit maker has influenced her to pick up the acoustic guitar and start learning the chords although it will be some time before she can deftly play the instrument.
Lemoniq has already recorded her second offering, another love ballad titled, Sofa s’lahlane and is earmarked to be released just before Valentine’s Day. For Bulawayo’s Emakhandeni-bred songstress, song writing is a self-taught skill that was driven by passion.
“I’m putting final touches to my second song and its likely to be out on 12 February but I have not yet set a date on when I want to complete the full album but it could be later this year or early next year. I want to take my time to ensure that I come up with something appealing to a wider cross-section of music lovers,” she said.
Moyo, who is granddaughter to Minister of State for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Judith Ncube, showed her creativity in coming up with her stage name, Lemoniq, which is a combination of her two first names. Moyo’s mother, Nobukhosi Sibanda has been nurturing her talent after discovering the teenager’s vocal prowess.
“I heard her singing while she was cleaning one day and I thought she had a unique voice and since then I have given her room to express that vocal talent. She sang during my wedding as I walked down the aisle and received a rousing ovation from guests. She embraced it, taking on singing roles at church and she blossomed to be confident enough to sing on her own,” she said.
