KES EXCLUSIVE:‘African artistes need to come together’ – Mafikizolo... 

‘African artistes need to come together’ – Mafikizolo...

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  South African group Mafikizolo says they are not couple.   In this exclusive interview  the pop stars talk about their relationship and collaborations with Nigeria artistes.

How do you feel about Nigeria? 
It is our second home, we’ve never been to another place apart from South Africa so many times as Nigeria, so this has become our second home. When we did our Re-united album, we were very blessed to work with Mr May D, he’s our brother, he knows that we’ve been scooping awards back home for best collaboration every award, so it’s a blessing to have actually worked with May D, and the song, to our surprise, has been loved all over the continent. 

Tell us about ‘Kwaito’. 
It’s one of the genres of music featuring the use of African sounds and samples which emerged in South Africa during the 1990s when we were fighting for democracy. Kwaito was the best measure to express one’s feelings then, so when we came out we had to continue from what was started for us.


Hip-Hop and contemporary music came into South Africa in beginning of the century; did you feel it was going to take over? 
Yes, Hip Hop is influential; when hip hop came out we were influenced because it was played often on TV, so we intended to go and embrace it with the flavor of Kwaito. 

Your debut album was in 1997; presently you have eight albums, tell us the secret to your success? 
Firstly respecting your fans, because they got us to this level, it also takes a lot of hard work. We love working together, we love what we do and that is what has kept us going. 

 How did you meet to come up with the group Makifizolo? 
We resided in the same street and had the same interest, which is music. Also, growing up, we used to be involved in other activities like miming and dancing competitions, so we decided to put together a demo, which we sent to Galawa Music Company. They loved it and from there, Makifizolo became a household name.

 So how many times have you performed in Nigeria?  
We have performed in Nigeria about six to seven times although not really at big events. 

Considering your status in the music industry, are you planning a concert anytime soon in Nigeria? We would love to have a music tour with Nigeria artistes, where we have the likes of Davido, Burna Boy and Mr May D. 

You’ve been in the industry since 1997, so how come you hadn’t done any Nigerian collabos before 2013? 
Music is evolving, times are changing. It was very difficult to get African music, either Nigerian music or Kenyan music or Tanzanian music in the market or store, we didn’t know anything about it, but with the technology of today, with iTunes coming up and twitter and all those things, we can access that kind of music and listen to music outside our borders.

 What do you think ceremonies like the MAMAs and the BET Awards have done for South Africa and African music in general?  
I was very impressed when we went to the launch of the MAMA’s. They came back [to South Africa] when things had changed. We even saw other bands in SA like Mi Casa and Uhuru coming up, so it also gives them the opportunity to be recognized outside our borders, not only for Mafikizolo, but we want them to get the exposure we’re also getting. Like I said earlier, all African artistes need to come together. 

A lot of people have been eager to know about your relationship as a group, Are you a couple? (Both laugh out loud) We are a couple but we are not married, I’m just kidding, we are a professional couple, we work together, she’s married to someone else, I’m married to some else. But we’re very good partners, brothers and sisters.

 Both of you also have had successful solo careers. What made you two come back to the group? I’ll say the love and the brand we’ve already built as Mafikizolo has always been one of the biggest brands we created together with our record company Galawa. Even when we did our solo careers, we also knew we still need to respect the brand that we’ve built and it’s something we constantly talked about, but after dropping two albums each, we felt it was time for us to take up the brand Mafikizolo.

You lost a member in 2004, and many people thought you guys wouldn’t continue after that but you came back stronger. What do you think he would think of your success now? 
 I think it was the biggest blow for us. When we heard the news it was shocking, like losing a brother and it wasn’t an easy thing working and getting back into the studio, but after a while we decided to go back. We were able to do so with support of the record company and fans. We also thought by doing so and not replacing him, [we would be] keeping his legacy alive. We know too well he loved Mafikizolo and loved being part of it. He definitely [did] not want us to stop doing music....