In 2008, TiNO and his parents moved to South Africa from Zimbabwe. At this stage, he was a young six-year-old boy. His family settled in Swellendam where he spent his childhood.
During his high school years, TiNO’s life revolved around rugby and academia. He always believed that, like his grandfather, he would become a farmer on a tobacco farm in Zimbabwe. His hard work and excellent academics at Oakdale High School of Agriculture won him a full scholarship at Klein Karoo Saad Produksies.
At the age of 19, he picked up a guitar for the first time. “I didn’t really sing at the time, I just hummed along with the rhythm,” he says.
Little did he know that this would be the beginning of his Afrikaans music career (his mother tongue is Shona). Although a career in music was not part of his planning, he immediately found a new home between the tunes and the words.
Inspiration for TiNO’s ‘Afstand’
TiNO soon realised that music offered him another way to express emotion. The longing for his friends in Zimbabwe gave rise to his first single, Afstand (Distance), which he wrote with his friend Dieter Sullwald. He made the decision to have the song professionally produced and it ended up in the hands of famous producer Tertius Human. And the rest, as they say, is history.
TiNO describes the process as magical. Within a week, one song turned into 10 and thus a whole album was produced – Sterrekind.
Today, the talented musician is proud of what his music means to other people. In his humility, he praises the Lord for the reception his music enjoys on the radio and among the public.
His music is currently played by some of South Africa’s biggest radio stations and graces numerous top 10 hit parades. One of his highlights is the number 1 position his song Afstand achieved on RSG. “It’s these things that inspire me to write more music,” explains the young artist of 21.
TiNO is grateful for his family who support him even though they can’t understand any of the Afrikaans lyrics. “All Afrikaans lyrics my mother knows are that of Transkaroo,” he jokes.
His focus is currently on his agricultural studies. He also played rugby for the u/20 team at the University of Stellenbosch.
If you ask him what his advice is to others, his answer is, without hesitation: “Don’t wait for something good to come your way. If you want to be a musician who plays the guitar, you just have to pick up the guitar and start playing.”