20 Jan 2014

Ever wondered how artistes choose their stage names and how other artistes  in other genres stick to their given names.

Well, various factors seem to contribute to choosing a name to identify with as an artiste. Some artistes especially in pop music choose a name to retain anonymity at the same time attracting attention. However, some artistes confess to choosing a stage name because their real name is often difficult to pronounce or spell, dull and unattractive to the tongue.

Music is complex and genres differ. While pop musicians go with personal identity and branding, jazz artistes  are more concerned with their music rather than their names. That is why a good majority of jazz artistes use their real passport names.

South African jazz maestro Ringo Madlingozi says, “what matters to us is the quality of the music we produce, not how we are called. Once people enjoy your music they will always remember your name.”

Award winning local jazz muso Nnunu Ramogotsi concurs with Ringo and further explains that, “jazz appeals more to the older generation and as would be expected they are more interested in good music rather than the name attached.”

While Nnunu uses her given name, her fellow jazz artiste Shanti Lo chose a stage name. However his stage name is not far from his given names as ‘Shanti’ is Hindu word meaning peace and  his middle name is Kagiso and ‘Lo’ is short for his  surname Loeto.

“I chose a stage name for two reasons; firstly it was for the protection of my family name and also strategically for my career,” explains Shanti Lo.

He says he did not want his family name to be dragged in the negativity that comes with the showbiz industry, acknowledging that the entertainment industry is marred with controversy. For Shanti Lo, he was also thinking global markets and wanted an easy name on the tongue.

Although he is aware of his fellow jazz artistes who go by their real names, Shanti Lo says he does not know why they decide on that. But, for other genres he reckons is for marketability as well as easy spelling and articulation for everyone concerned.

Eugene Jackson, local R&B artiste and vocalist says he has two names and had always known he wanted to use his passport name. His other name is Mxolisi which is Xhoza.

“I was not sure of which name to choose but I preferred Mxolisi to Eugene,” explains Eugene saying he was eventually advised to use Eugene as it is easier on the tongue especially for his audience in Botswana. Pseudonyms are mostly common among pop musicians though; of house, hip hop, kwaito, motswako and others.

But, rhythm and blues and jazz artistes mostly use their given names or they would use initials and surnames. Among international pop artistes are the likes of Ludacris whose real name is Chris Bridges, Queen Latifah(Dana Owens), P Diddy (Sean Combs). And locally we have among others Zeus (Game Bantsi) Scar (Thato Matlhabaphiri), T.H.A.B.O (Thabo Bolokwe), and Mapetla (Thabo Ntirang).

Eugene says some time it is all about the bond the artistes want to create between them and their fans; which also is their identity. He also says with the hype in the pop music, artistes also have to go with the hype of it and choose a puff name as their stage name.

Odirile ‘Vee’ Sento says stage names should market an artiste and he also believes the character of an artiste also plays a role in choosing a name. A successful artiste in his own right, Vee says his stage name chose him. Initially he used dot.

O as a stage name back in the days when he used to perform at variety shows. He says whenever he approached people will refer to him as “yo wa di vee show yo.” So as a variety performer , he then chose Vee as his stage name and discarded dot.O, because he also believes the name Vee says a lot about him as he is indeed a variety performer. It would therefore appear that marketability, comfort of the tongue and musical appeal form key ingredients to choosing an. ENDS