WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 5 2012

TONIGHTMUSIC

MATHAMBO RELEASES COMPILATION

HELEN HERIMBI

THATO Mokgata, known to you as Spoek Mathambo, is sitting on a low couch, eyeing the chocolates and sweets on a table in front of him. While he figures out which one will satisfy his sweet tooth, a representative from the Sony record company and I struggle to open the blinds and let some sun into the office. The representative makes herself comfortable on a seat nearby . Awwwwkward. After some intense to-ing and froing, Mathambo bashfully asks her to give us some unsupervised time to talk about Mathambos newest release, Future Sound of Mzansi, as its making me uncomfortable. I ask him if he often had to deal with artists whose babysitters (his word, not mine) insisted on sitting in on the interview when he ran the shortlived Levitate Magazine. No, he shakes his head and jokes, the artists I used to interview werent the type to have babysitters. Theres no need for babysitting because Mathambo has grown a lot since his initial musical endeavours. Mathambo, who coined the term township tech, has more slashes behind his name than a suicidal person going at his wrist with a blunt knife. He is a rapper/songwriter/ singer/producer and is working on scoring a film called Black South Easter. Its been taking up a lot of time, he tells me while munching on a chocolate, Ive been working on the score for the past six months and its the hardest work I have ever done. Especially because you are subject to someone elses creativity . The other feathers in his cap are evident in Future Sound of Mzansi which is a compilation of my biggest songs. I listened to my entire catalogue and found songs that would resonate with the South African listeners. Some of these songs have never been released in South Africa before. Born in South Africa but flying between here and his home in Malm, Sweden, with his wife and fellow musician, Gnucci Banana, this international export says he wanted to introduce himself

to the SA public. I have like 60 EPs but Ive never had a cover with my face on it, he says, as a producer, singer, songwriter, I wanted this project to serve as an introduction to South African listeners. So putting my face on the cover this time was just to say dumelang. In addition to Diplo asking him to hop on to Robyns Dancehall Queen remix, Mathambo has ensured that his introduction is not only a nod to the past with his unique rendition of Weekend Special (featuring Big Fkn Guns Bra Sol and Dirty Paraffins Okmalumkoolkat), but also a glimpse into future sounds. Namely , dance-driven, electronic music laden under raps and catchy choruses. Some of the production is handled by long-time friend, Sibot, who started a group called Playdoe with Mathambo many years ago. We hadnt seen each other for a year, Mathambo says of Sibot, but we got back into it and it was fun. We both push each other and are energetic and he has a great sense of humour. I regard his mastery of making the beat highly and his methodology has influenced me a lot.

I cant wait to be confident enough to sit with him and make a beat. This 27-year-old who was chosen to perform at the Africa Express Train that allowed people to enjoy performances by Africas finest in Europe has also been commissioned to work on music by Lana del Rey and kicks himself for passing up on an opportunity to work with Azealia Banks before she blew up. The Sony rep comes in and politely asks me how much time I still need with Mathambo so he wraps it up with there is an exciting new voice in South Africa and its a sign for people to venture out with new sounds. The music has developed to the point where The Black Eyed Peas and Kanye West have moved into the electro direction. Its cool to see big artists coming over to my side sonically . Spoek Mathambos Future Sound of Mzansi is in stores.

Awards skip 2012 and move to Durbs

HELEN HERIMBI

THE 12th Metro FM Music Awards, also known as the MMAs, will be held at the Durban International Convention Centre on February 23. The SABC radio stations flagship awards ceremony has always been a travelling one, having been hosted in Joburg, Durban and Mpumalanga. But this year, people were surprised to learn that there would be no ceremony . The station will resume the affair that used to be held towards the end of the year at the top of 2013. At a media breakfast hosted by Metro FM DJs and Durbanites, Sphe and Zeal, in Durban last week, Lesley Ntloko, the manager of SABC radio, said that this time around, the station took a different strategy in imple-

menting these awards. Twelve years is a long time to survive and continue to grow as we have seen the Metro FM Awards do. The awards have matured to become a key driver for the economy of a province. There were several jabs taken at Mbombela Stadium, which hosted the event for the past two years, and even a very serious (and uncomfortable to witness) rendition of The Greatest Love of All sung by KwaZulu-Natal council speaker Logie Naidoo. But ultimately , as Mike Mabuyakhulu (KZNs MEC for Economic Development and Tourism) said: Well use these awards to showcase the talents of our artists and weve agreed to host these awards for three years with the possibility of making this thing permanent. When asked what the reason

was for skipping the ceremony this year and what caused the delay in announcing the new location, Kaiser Kganyago, the SABCs spokesman, said there was no delay . We had a press conference in Joburg that mentioned the repositioning of the awards. We felt that to accommodate people who release at the end of the year, we would have to not really postpone, but shift the awards to February . Metro FM station manager Martin Vilakazi, said: We wanted to give artists a chance. The rules have been amended to allow artists the opportunity to release [albums] until the end of December. This means albums released from March to December will be eligible for the awards. The nominees will be announced on January 17.