Unmasked Mzekezeke in London walk-about

Unmasked Mzekezeke in London walk-about

IN TOWN: Mzekezeke in the mask, to his left is Brown Dash

• EXCLUSIVE: Mafikizolo interview

By Mduduzi Mathuthu

SOUTH African kwaito music star Mzekezeke went on a walkabout on the London streets on Thursday WITHOUT his trademark mask, then told New Zimbabwe.com: “White people don’t know who Mzekezeke is, so I can remove it. But I can never think of doing that back in South Africa.”

Mzekezeke, the bane of South Africa’s celebrity culture, arrived in the UK early Thursday morning for three weekend gigs in London, Aston Villa (near Birmingham) and Bradford featuring Mafikizolo and Zimbabwe’s sungura music king Simon 'Chopper' Chimbetu.

At 21, Mzekezeke has the age on his side to eclipse all kwaito stars before him. He continues to hit the headlines with his trademark mask which has sent the South African media into frenzied speculation about his real identity.

Mzekezeke stormed into the South African public’s consciousness in 2002 as a mysterious voice on the Radio station YFM. Mzekezeke was a regular feature on Rude Boy Paul and Unathi's afternoon drive show and would phone famous kwaito artists, producers and TV actors and harass them live on air.

His hilarious imitations of the average South African broken-English-speaking township person have earned him a major following. When we asked him about his flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow Airport, he told us: “We go very nice and get here very safe.”

Coming from Tembisa Township in Johannesburg himself, he has now started calling up ministers or even President Thabo Mbeki. With his mix of naiveté and wit he questions them about social issues like AIDS, crime or social programs. Those who started out laughing at his comedic radio antics ended up getting down to his massive hits.

The debut S'Guqa Ngamadolo, an album produced by new school production master DJ Cleo, went on to sell over 180 000 copies, win the Song Of The Year and Artist Of The Year Awards at the 2003 South African Music Awards. His latest album Istorotoro has already gone platinum – and last month he did a double at the 2004 Sama awards by again winning Song Of The Year and Artist Of The Year Awards.

Simon Chimbetu has asked out of our scheduled interview which we promised you. Efforts are being made to get you THE INTERVIEW. READ IT HERE FIRST

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Even President Mbeki joined the nation in getting down on his knees (the meaning of S'Guqa Ngamadolo) when Mzekezeke performed at Freedom Day (April 27) celebrations in the capital city, Pretoria. Mzekezeke's now has an entertainment news slot on an urban television show ‘One’ every Friday night. He uses the show to take a swipe at South African rappers who have fake 'yo yo my man' type American accents.

But you can’t always wear a mask, there is surely a time when one gets tired. So will he remove it for his UK fans to see him when he goes on stage? We wanted to know.

“No,” he says with a chuckle. “You see I don’t wear this mask for fashion. It represents the poor people of Tembisa where I come from. I wear it even on my street where most of my friends know me. It is a message to the poor people of South Africa that you don’t need a beautiful face to succeed. You only need to pray and work hard.”

That is certainly the message captured in Mzekezeke’s platinum selling new album Istorotoro. Mzekezeke still maintains close touch with the ghetto where he was jobless until he made a breakthrough as a DJ at YFM.

On tour with Mzekezeke is his best man Brown Dash whose voice can be heard on almost all the songs on Mzekezeke’s 2003 double album S’guqa Ngamadolo. Like Mzekezeke, Dash was raised in a home so poor that he had to leave school to look for work in order to provide for his family in Zola, Soweto.

Soon his distinct kwaito-friendly voice was noticed and he appeared on some Doc Shebeleza and Mapaputsi tracks. It didn't take long before his gold selling debut album Puff And Pass was released on Mzekezeke's label TS Records.

The first hit and title track was an ode to the joys of spliff (though he denies it!) and features his homeboy, Zola and Mzekezeke. The album sees him discussing issues like poverty or like in ‘M’gezeni’ the rights of fathers to see their children. It's an experience this father of two kids went through.

Mzekezeke told us: “We will be performing songs from my two albums and also songs from Brown Dash’s latest album Umthandazo Wabolova just released this month.

“Umthandazo Wabolova is a prayer for people from the ghetto. It is giving hope to our brothers and sisters in the ghetto that their lives will be improved if they continue working hard and praying.”

Before the end of the interview, we asked him if he had a message to his fans and those who have never heard of him, or his music. “This will be a very, very nice show. Those seeing or hearing us for the first time shouldn’t worry because we are going to explain what we stand for and why we are like the way we are.”
Mzekezeke will be selling signed copies of his CDs and Brown Dash's latest album Umthandazo Wabolova will also be on sale
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