Artist Bio:
Skeleton is four-piece Maskanda band from Zululand featuring: Themba "Ncane" Ngubane, born December 23, 1957, in Greytown, lead singer and drums; "Skeleton" Musa Ngubane, born 1960 in Greytown, lead guitarist; Mangisi Zondo, born 1963 in Bulwer, keyboards; Zandile Zuma, born 1972 in Greytown, backing vocals and bass. All members of the band come from the rural towns of Zululand and are now resident in the sprawling township of Umlazi, south of Durban
Themba Ngubane is the driving force behind Skeleton, but his guitarist, Skeleton Ngubane, is its lucky charm. Themba's passion for Zulu music was instilled in him by his late mother and, growing up in Greytown, he was surrounded by people who loved music and were always singing and dancing. As a boy, he did not sing and preferred to dance, but he started singing and decided in 1970 to make it his career.
In the late '70s, Themba formed a band called Izihlobo (Neighbors) with a group of blind musicians; he being the only sighted one. They proved to be so popular that they their debut album, on the Gallo label in 1980, yielded four number-one hits on Radio Zulu's Ezodumo show. In the late '80s, Themba formed a new band called MShoza, but their development was abruptly arrested when three members were gunned down in the township of Clermont.
After this tragic incident, Themba came very close to giving up on his music, and it was only through the support and counseling of Leonard Gwala from Ndwedwe, north of Durban, that he found the strength to carry on after the loss of his fellows. Gwala taught him that perseverance is the mother of success.
The two other people who have inspired Themba most, in terms of his career, are the late Obed Sishi, the former Radio Zulu DJ, and Professor Joseph Shabalala of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Themba shares songwriting and compositional duties with Skeleton and Mangisi. "Most of the time, when I compose a song, I visualize something that has happened to me," says Themba. For example, the song "Intombi (yase Topiya)" (Lady (from Ethiopia)), was inspired by a beautiful woman with braids in her hair who Themba saw on television and who reminded Themba of his own woman. —Courtesy Calabash Music
