'They think Xigubu is a one-hit wonder'

597 Fiesta Black, real name Thandi Nakampe Mokgoankgoa. Pic taken at The Star studios 070115. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

597 Fiesta Black, real name Thandi Nakampe Mokgoankgoa. Pic taken at The Star studios 070115. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Jan 21, 2015

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Tonight looks into the crystal ball of the South African music industry to try to predict which artists will make it big and what the new trends will be this year.

 

 

THE INTERVIEW

Fiesta Black will be the new black in 2015. She first came to our attention with the South African Music Awards’ (Sama) Song of the Year, Xigubu, when she was featured on this track by DJ Ganyani. The track has subsequently received more than 2 million hits on YouTube. However, that is only a part of the complex talent that is Fiesta Black.

Visiting the headquarters of Muthaland/ Ghetto Ruff, record boss Lance Stehr played me a few of her tracks from her debut album, Queen Nakampe. It was terrifying. This young woman is a tropical hurricane. Her emotions take you to the dark precipice of your life and then something beautiful pops up and gently carries you back to warm, pink cotton clouds.

Her music varies from hard-core rap to poetic beats to love songs and, of course, the obligatory house and then there are more jazzier songs.

Chilling with her beside the pool at the headquarters, it’s not hard to see why her music is what it is. She is vulnerable but at other times flippant yet passionate, rebellious yet cautious.

So, who is Fiesta Black?

“I am ready to f*** s**** up because I have worked so hard. I am crazy on stage. Before I get on I change personalities. I go from Thandi (her real name is Thandi Nakampe Mokgoankgoa) to aggressive b**ch mode. I want people to understand that I am not here to play. From when I was a little girl I never wanted to play with dolls or pick my nose. I wanted to be a star.”

Does Fiesta Black have ADD?

“What’s that?”

Like, did they prescribe you Ritalin as a child?

She shrugs: “Well, they didn’t do that with me and now look at me.”

She first met Stehr before the success of Xigubu: “I was a demo wh**e, taking it everywhere. If I knew Oskido was playing at some random club, I’d do everything to get his attention. Lance heard my music and told me to go back to school because I was too young for the industry.

“I met Ganyani through some a**hole whom I wish would die. He was producing for Ganyani and suggested me for the song. That hit didn’t change me or my lifestyle. I am a hectic b**ch but also sweet and humble. I learnt to toughen up because being sweet didn’t help me. It’s only when I started pulling zap signs that people started taking me seriously.”

Why is her style so varied?

“I don’t even know my style. It’s just in me. I didn’t go to school for this. It’s all the years of doing it over and over. In my lyrics I talk about love, hate, hangovers, the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, my mother to dogs in the industry who annoy the s*** out of me.”

After such success with Xigubu why did she decide to sign with Ghetto Ruff?

“I was shooting a video at their studio and Bongani Fassie approached me to go upstairs to his studio to try out a track for the project he is doing on his mother, Brenda. That same night we started working on songs together. Lance came to the studio and was like: ‘Who are you?’ and I said: ‘Fiesta Black. Remember me?’” She pauses, then flashes her charming smile: “Hey, do you want to go upstairs to the studio and hear some of our tracks?”

 

THE STUDIO

Upstairs in that famous studio where everyone has recorded, it is boiling hot and stuffy with smoke even though there is a fan blowing. Baby Brenda, Bongani’s toddler, is running around. Bongs is in boxer shorts and one of baby Brenda’s toy masks rests on the back of his head. He is facing the recording desk, oblivious to my entrance. Fiesta plonks herself down on a couch, shoeless. I watch Bongs at work. I had forgotten what a perfectionist he is in the studio.

“Hello, Bongs.”

He turns and greets me warmly.

Fiesta instructs him to play a finished track. He plays a Fela Kuti-inspired song. She is singing in Shona and it’s really something different and beautiful. With each new verse she ups her vocals. “I can write lyrics in all 11 languages,” she announces. “Plus pigeon, Swahili and Shona.”

Watching them work together is odd, but there is chemistry – she is so ferocious and he is so gentle. Then it strikes me – one of the reasons why they make such great music together is because she comes the closest I have seen to his mother. Fuh-reeky.

After some nervous consideration, Bongs plays another song. Fiesta points to the hype man in the studio who goes by the name of Ghost.

“Don’t cry again. Normally, Bongs is the one who cries.”

Ghost blushes: “Yeah, but this song is so emotional.”

It starts with a slow intro and then she spells love and the chorus: Rub-a-dub-dub in the tub, shower me with love.

Bongs plays the dance remix and it is as good.

Bongs and Fiesta share a beer. Fiesta gets another hurricane of energy.

“How many tracks have we done in the past 74 hours,” she asks. “Because that is how long I have been awake and with you.”

“We have completed four songs, but we have lots of bits and pieces,” replies Bongs.

“Yeah, well don’t fall asleep,” insists the wide-eyed girl. “Let’s fall asleep next week.”

She turns to me: “The album is called Queen Nakampe which is my second name and my great-grandmother’s name.

“So far I have had lots of people f*** with me and now I am ready to f*** them up, all of them in the industry. They think that Xigubu is a one-hit wonder for me. The sooner they realise I am not going anywhere the better. I’ve got this industry and I am as real as they get. I have learnt a lot in this industry, but still have a lot to learn.”

She looks at Bongs and smiles: “This album has been a beautiful experience, working with Bongani and the other producers. But Bongs is the most talented.”

The album was a collaboration of producers with DJ Sneja as well as newcomers DJ Laylow and Vinni the Don contributing most of the tracks. The result is a wild, varied sound with unique, challenging beats. In fact, Queen Nakampe is one of the most aurally challenging albums to have come out of this country in the past two decades and is certainly not for the fainthearted.

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