Getting up-close with Bongo Maffin
Thalefang Charles | Tuesday May 13, 2014 12:37
To get the 10 minute interview, Showbiz has to get past fans hanging about the backstage in hopes to meet the stars, hangers-on, groupies or others who play some undisclosed role.
A big camera is usually instrumental in getting backstage access. In addition to the backstage access hurdles, there is the final gatekeeper, the band manager.
Inside Megopong hall at Botswanacraft, Bongo Maffin manager, a sweet, but stern woman in tights and a skimpy shirt showing off her flat tummy grants Showbiz access.
After their Mascom Live Session performance, Bongo Maffin needs a 15-minute break to cool off.
We wait and join the hangers-on left to their drinks in between hugs and flashes of cellphone cameras.
eBotswana goes in first. After their 10 minutes we are next.
Seated in the middle of small noisy hall, our interview takes a few minutes to start as Speedy rushes to the door to instruct bouncers to let some young and beautiful women in.
Finally all seated, Speedy on the far left then Jah Seed, Thandiswa and Stoan to the right.
They say the reunion finally happened in December 2013 and had their first show together in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Why they decided to come back together?
“It’s our fans. Our fans wanted us back,” Stoan says.
The group says Mafikizolo’s successful reunion was not necessarily an inspiration for them to get back together.
One woman wearing African shirt shortly interrupts. She quickly mumbles something in Jah Seed’s ear before the dreadlocked rapper gives her a thumps up.
Are they ready for the new industry where groups battle to stay together and music sales via iTunes and SoundCloud downloads are more relevant?
“We sold out my man! How ready can we be?” Speedy responds.
“We were big before Facebook and Twitter and we will be big after Facebook and Twitter,” Jah Seed adds.
Stoan explains that they will survive the digital era because they made it from the analogue age.
Thandiswa says new media has been valuable for them.
“New media has allowed us to reach new fans and we still kept our old fans,” she says.
Jah Seed says like Bob Marley, whose music is a still popular years after his death, they will also make music that that will live long.
The group says it is working on new music, but did not reveal when they will release a new album. Thandiswa points out that nowadays it is better to first release a single.
For now, they say they will continue with their nostalgic shows performing their Bongo Maffin classics.
Local comedian Big Fish enters the room and passes a joke.
“Good peoples how you for example yourselves?” Stoan responds, “For example re sharpo”.
That is yet another interruption eating into the short 10-minute interview.
What makes you think you can just come back and make it big again?
The question makes all except Thandiswa uneasy. Stoan believes history is on their side.
“It is like asking an architect whether he can build a house,” he says.
Thandiswa, calmer than the men, says they do not know whether they would make it big again. They would continue to make music the way they know how and leave it to the fans, she says.
“We have fans all over the world and they are the decision makers,” she says.
The group comes at a time when their record label Kalawa Jazzmee is taking over Africa.
“Kalawa is making the best music on the African continent right now,” Stoan says, probably referring to the latest Mafikizolo collaboration with Nigeria’s sensation Davido on Tchelete that is taking Africa by storm.
He says: “Mafikizolo just swept awards at the SAMAs.”
The catering staff inside Megopong packs up and Thandiswa protests. Bongo Maffin manager asks us to wrap up so that the group could have a chance to eat.