Pretoria - Passion is what drives Afro Brotherz duo Lawrence Skosana and Robert Mashifane.
“We became musicians because we were very passionate about music, and music was our easiest way to express our intuitive thoughts and feelings,” said the music stars.
The two come from Vezubuhle, KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga and are commonly known as Click and Mohamed.
It is the same passion for music that saw them win a Mzansi Magic song of the year award for the hit single Gugulethu with Prince Kaybee.
But life is not all music for the duo.
“We have other hobbies and are business-minded. We wish one day to own restaurants in our town,“ they said.
“Patience, creativity and confidence keep us going. These are our strengths that we believe make us great musicians, not forgetting hard work because we believe hard work is the first stepping stone to success.
“Our favourite part of being a musician is going to stage and pouring our heartsout to good audiences or sharing our creativity passion with the world. Seeing people enjoying what we do (is) just satisfying.”
Afro Brotherz produce Afro house/tech, and according to them, this is because the genre inspired and motivated people to keep on pushing and never give up. “Afro house is a spiritual thing, a body thing and a soul thing,” they said.
While the duo have dropped massive hits over the years, they singled their album Music is Culture, released in March 2020, as their greatest to date. It carries dance floor anthems such as Umdali featuring PixieL and Catching Feelings, with Mel P, Caiiro, Pastor Snow and Mzoka.
Afro Brotherz draws inspiration from DJ Tira, Black Coffee and Da Capo. “We admire the entertainment and the way they push their work.
“It has been so many years, but they are still relevant. As Afro Brotherz, our sound will still remain relevant for years to come; our sound is in our blood.
“When it comes to music production, we are inspired by Heavy K as well. As Afro Brotherz when we collaborate with vocalists we make sure that we create the spiritual, emotional house music that delivers the message to our listeners.
“A great song doesn’t only need to have great chords or lyrics, but should create some sort of reaction and specific emotions.”
Asked what their message is to upcoming producers and artists, the duo urged them to register their music before submitting it on radio stations and releasing it.
The everyday life for the duo includes producing music, while on weekends, they attend gigs across the country.
“And as we are independent artists, during the day we also engage with our fans on social media, submit music to radio stations and handle our booking agreement.
“We are dropping new music every week and we (are) also working on our upcoming EPs. We are not bound to any record labels, so we drop new music as we please. In the past month, we dropped The Lands I and The Lands II, while The Lands III is around the corner.
“We have remained relevant from the start of Afro Brotherz because we are best friends since childhood and got connected through music. Although the music industry is not a game, nothing is more fun than working with your best friend.”
Pretoria News