The producer of any song is known as the mastermind behind the entire production of a song, he and the engineers of that song are the guys that makes the artist look good by the time song has been completed and ready to be released into the world.
However, most of the time, it is the singer and not the music producer who receives praise for creating a great song, which is kind of acceptable because it is the artist who is the one that has to perform the song and not necessarily the producer.
But today, we’d like to take our hats off to a music producer in our country whom we feel has not been receiving the praise he deserves for the great work he's done in the South African music industry.
Bruce Sebetlo
Bruce has been in the music industry for years, if you grew up in the 90’s and call yourself a lover of South African music but are not familiar with this music maestro, then you’ll need to re-evaluate your local music knowledge a bit.
Bruce has a very rich musical background and was one of the few music producers who founded Kalawa Jazzmee alongside Oskido, Don Laka and Christos.
My first introduction to Bruce was when he teamed up with Oskido to create their duo group - B.O.P (Brothers Of Peace) in the early 90's. But Bruce had already become a household name in the music scene by that time.
In an interview with IOL, Thebe once mentioned that he used to reside at Bruce' house so often that people thought they were housemates. The main reason why Thebe was always at his house was because Bruce was always making music with his keyboard. Thebe would then take the music and play Bruce's songs at gigs when he was still a DJ.
Bruce has an impressive catalogue of music and has produced for the likes of Bongo Maffin, Black Coffee, Alaska and even Brenda Fassie. His list of music is endless and those who are deeply entrenched within the S.A. music culture now the great work this man has done throughout the years.
Last year, Black Motion's Thabo Mabogwane mentioned how much he respects and admires Bruce generally as a man but most importantly as a music producer who changed the game in many ways we couldn't even imagine.
It's quite evident that those who are in the music industry love and respect Bruce.
One of my all-time favourite songs from Thebe is Ungawa Kum which came out in the late 90's, at the end of the song Thebe sends a shout out to all of his music peers when he sings;
"Awufuni mina, ufuna uTshidiso, Mindlos, Skizo, SEBITLO noOskido"
As I got older, I, later on, learned that he was referring to the almighty Bruce Sebitlo.
Bruce isn't really that much active on social media, but that's because he's busy producing the next hit track to hit South Africa.
Main Image Credit: Instagram/@Oskido