Mgarimbe Tells A Story Of How ‘Sister Betina’ Came About. It has been evident that no matter if Mgarimbe can drop other songs but Sister Betina will always be his number one hit. The single dropped 13 years back and is still a national anthem for SA. Mgarimbe has now took to explain how the single was born.
“Jabu was a resident deejay at Action Bar [a downtown Joburg venue that no longer exists], and one day he called me to come through to the club for his girlfriend’s birthday that night,” he tells me. “I went there at around one or two in the morning and the place was packed. I remember I was wasted by that time, and then Jabu started playing the beat that he had made. I just took the mic and started singing. He had a PC there and recorded it – that’s how the song came about.”
Mgarimbe says the next morning he phoned Jabu and asked him to delete the song.
“I begged him, please my man, delete that thing! I was embarrassed by the lyrics,” Mgarimbe laughs. Bettina’s lyrics are a mix of hype and talk about flashing your money so that the woman you’re interested in will finally let you have sex with her.
Jabu said he would, but a few weeks later Mgarimbe was sitting in his flat in Hillbrow and heard a taxi drive past.
“It was playing this song!” He says, imitating the tiri-ti-ti intro of the track.
Jabu hadn’t deleted the track. In fact, it was spreading like wild fire.
Music writer and author of Born to Kwaito, Sihle Mthembu, is well aware of how local music can gain popularity through taxis, events and word of mouth. He remembers hearing the song when he was in Grade 10.
“The track spread through Explosion, one of Durban’s biggest annual music events. They were giving out CDs of it, and people started playing it in the taxis. I remember my taxi driver Fresh had it – and he wouldn’t give it to anyone. Sharing music wasn’t as easy then as it is now. If you had a hot song, you held on to it.”
Bettina also hit at a time when what is referred to as the Bacardi House sound was becoming big. #Trending music writer Phumlani S Langa calls it “taxi house” – a mix of vernacular, kwaito and dance. As always, the US sound was popular, and R&B-influenced hip-hop like that from Aaliyah would have fitted right in.
