Tshego AMG is a Bruer who comes from an amazing town called Siyabuswa in Kwandebele that is so rich of talent and gifted with producing the finest. I’m a guitarist, musician and a producer; I’m a business man holistically, meaning that the talent is the business, the interactions and all of that. I have been in the game professionally for at least 12 years; I started off by touring with Dr Malinga in 2006, I was about 15 years old. We were doing some Sun international casinos; we did sort of an SA tour that year, so professionally I’ve been around the industry for at least 12 Years counting back to 2006
Out of All Musical Instruments, Why did you choose to play a Guitar?
The truth is that I started by playing piano at a very tender age, I think I was in grade 2, I was probably 6 years if not 7, I was taught by my elder brother how to play a piano where he would use a fork to beat me with if ever I would make a mistake, I would cry, leave and come back the following day to learn again. Then I jumped to Bass Guitar when I realized didn’t like to be on the background, I didn’t like being boomy. I think if you have noticed with performances also, we make sure that it’s a highlight, people get to experience Tshego AMG on the highest level. So yeah, I taught myself how to play a guitar at the age of ten. I had a tutor but I didn’t see any movement until I decided to pick up a guitar and played by myself. Why did I choose it? It’s because a guitar man says a lot, it has a lot of stories to tell.
Besides a Guitar, what other musical instruments or musical activities do you do?
I try to play everything, I learnt how to play a saxophone, I play bass guitar, and I play drums and piano. I produce, but I can’t sing to save my life though… sadly
What are the amazing places that you have travelled that made you fall more in love with Playing a Guitar?
The world man, the first county that I’ve travelled to after getting my passport was Kenya, which was the most amazing trip ever, and the rest is history because I’ve been on the road, I’ve been on the globe for quite some time, for the past 7 years I’ve been in and out South Africa, one of the places I’ve also enjoyed being there was Dubai that has skyscrapers, electric cars, exotic cars, beautiful beach and everything about it. And the highlight of my career was opening for T.i in Atlanta which is the place where a whole lot of trap and a lot of hip hop is happening, the musical culture there is so rich, and Texas Houston where I attended South by South West … France was amazing… also our neighboring countries, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Rwanda… the list is too long but I think the highlight for me is Atlanta and Dubai
What genre of music do you like playing the most and why?
Yo… I don’t box myself bro, I think music is music, genres are only existing because of preference and culture orientated but I think am more African driven, I love African music to its last drop, I am influenced by a lot of Congolese music, Nigerian Afro music, Zimbabwe music and South African music you know… Maskandi, Mcashiyo, The Soul Brothers, the guitar leads that are there, so I never class myself in any genre because that would mean that I’ve limited myself to expansion so music is music, whether local or globally, whatever note a person plays, there’s a story to tell so I can’t answer that question specifically! Sigh
You play Guitar for one of the best Hip hop artist in South Africa and Africa at large (Kwesta). How did you find yourself playing for Him?
Ey to me this man is Senzo… it was weird story, there’s a nice and amazing story behind Me and Kwesta working together… a friend of mine was playing for him when he was trying out the live band situation, he couldn’t make it to the gig so they called me to fill up his space, I pulled through and rehearse… honestly I did not know Kwesta because I’m from a jazz and gospel background, my hip hop touch was not as broad as it is now since I’ve been in the space, so yeah… so he pulled through the rehearsals and I was just playing the songs that I felt like they needed a guitar, he called the director at that time and said “Yo, I think I like this guy, can I keep him and work with him more?” and next thing we started doing club gigs together and I later on brought him the drummer Ricco back into this two man show that we having now that sounds amazing and phenomenal, so it was not like there were auditions but was the calling of each other and played, the guy enjoyed what I was doing and wanted to hear more of Tshego AMG, so that’s how me and Kwesta worked together closely
How is the response from family and friends that you play a guitar for Kwesta?
I think the response is pretty obvious, I think my family got used to me working with big names from long time ago, when I was working with Dr Malinga I used to express him as one of the biggest artists I’ve ever met, when I worked with the late Victor Ntuli I expressed him as one of the best, then I worked with Psyfo, when I worked with… yoh, some of them I can’t even remember but I’ve been exposed to big names for a very long time you know… Camagwini, Mimi Ntejwa… I played for Erica Badu at some point in my life and there was a situation where a King of e Swatini was celebrating his birthday and I happened to be part of the resident band there, and she actually played my guitar. With friends obviously it’s like “Oh my God, Yo… so how does it feel to be around this man?”, which is the reason why I mentioned that this guy to me is Senzo, he’s a brother more than anything, we’ve grown to be family in so many ways, so I don’t think i have the fame following or being endowed by his fame and all that… So yeah, people will always be astonished of the fact that i work with Kwesta but Ey man, He’s a broer… you know what I’m saying?
Is there someone that you are grooming to be the next Tshego AMG or there’s only
gonna be one Tshego AMG?
No no no… at the moment I am indirectly grooming a lot of guitarists… I don’t believe in the direct grooming of people because their identity gets dissolved in the process. There are amazing upcoming guitarists like Kgaugelo, Lifa and Boikie… there’s quite a number of people who ask me questions on a daily basis and I would respond. I do a lot of live videos and after I explain what I would be playing, so that even people who follow me on social media can have interaction with me more than anything because time is not as amazing as it was back in the days where you would have the whole week to yourself and have ample time to work with people, so what I do is I open up the platform, people ask me questions via inbox and direct messages, and I make sure that I respond accordingly to my experience… There’s Given Zulu, and a lot of people, I forgot some of them, but I don’t do direct grooming but I do make sure that whatever I know, I share amongst people, especially on my social media platforms
Follow Tshego AMG on:
Facebook: Tshego AMG
Twitter: Tshego_AMG
Instagram: Tshego_AMG
YouTube: Tshego AMG
Wise Words
There’s only you and you are the best representation of yourself, so don’t let no one or the surrounding define what you are about. Music is music, music is emotions, music is heart-felt, music is the heart beat and the pulse of our daily, so the broers out there must never feel undermined by the industry, they are the best of what there is and they need to make sure that they put themselves first in anything, don’t wanna jump on, be it guitarist, be it being an AMG, be it being whatever, you are the best of yourself, you are the best representation of yourself so don’t stop at anything, life is amazing, live it to the fullest
Shout Outs
Firstly God, Secondly My amazing Family for putting up with my late nights and all of that, Thirdly My amazing Working Team which respectively is Kwesta, Ricco, Gee, Massilo, Nota and the whole RAPLYF Family… Shout out to my Mother… Ey that woman made the most man, this very guitar that you see me play with was bought by my mom in 2005 for R700 and today I think it’s the only guitar that’s on at least a thousand songs in South Africa right now, just by the way… highlight. Yeah shout out to the fans, shout out to everybody that loves this human being that’s representing Siyabuswa and representing the guitar life and representing the music industry as a musician.
Shout out to you, Rap type Magazine… pe pe pe peeeee… Jabulani the founder, yeah shout out to you bra, keep on doing what you are doing man, we appreciate your loving for the people behind the people that everybody loves, you know what I mean, I think it shows that whatever little that we put is taken into consideration and been seen
Just by the way, Tshego AMG stands for… my name is Tshegofatso, AMG means All Mighty Guitarist and it was given to me by YCee from Nigeria, I was doing a session and after playing, this man was chilling in the living area, he came running to the booth into the studio area and was like “My man, I’ve never heard a guitar like this in my life, from today I’m calling You All Mighty Guitarist” and ever since I’ve adapted it and it’s a huge brand, its growing and thanks to people like you that are recognizing, so Big ups… Tlean
