Soul Kulture and Encore to fight for MetroFM gong
SOUL KULTURE’S Afeletsi Manamathela and Msekeli Velaphi are still on a high.
The duo say they didn’t see their triple MetroFM Music Awards nominations coming.
The talented musicians are up for best group award, along with Durban’s Finest, Jaziel Brothers, The Soil and Encore.
Other noms are in best Afro-pop and best newcomer.
We are still shocked, and nervous that this is all happening. It really means a lot to us,” says Manamathela.
“We want to win all three awards but, if we can’t, we will settle for two. This is so that other people from humble beginnings like ours can be inspired to dream because they see that it is possible.
“We would like to be international artists and to collaborate with the best of the best like John Legend.”
They’ve come a long way since a chance meeting in Dutywa, Eastern Cape, where they sang as buskers to provide for their families. The duo followed their parents separately to Khayelitsha, Cape Town, to further their education.
Manamathela lost his mom just two weeks before the start of their music career.
“This nomination shows me that losing my mom wasn’t the end of the world for me,” Manamathela says.
“When something is taken away, God always puts something else back,” Velaphi adds.
Soul Kulture has since moved to Johannesburg to further their music career.
“Life in Jozi is nice but very fast. We are slowly getting used to it. We are grateful for this opportunity because this is what we came here for, this is what we want,” says Velaphi.
The duo confess that they are loving the perks of fame.
“Just last year we went to Durban and Limpopo. We stayed in hotels for the very first time. It was really fun,” Manamathela says.
The duo did not do any gigs during December because they went to initiation school.
“We are now men – from boys to men,” says Velaphi with a giggle.
They both plan to complete their Grade 12 in Johannesburg as soon as they find a school. ENCORE are in seventh heaven after they were nominated for the Metro FM Music Awards best group. The trio has just released singles and These precede the launch of their album
The group, made up of balladeers Kabelo Thomane, 32, Keabetswe Kototsi, 27, and Peter Letsoalo, 32, is going for platinum after their album sold gold.
The trio say the recognition that will come with the MetroFM nomination will go some way in helping achieve this.
“The nomination means a lot. Although this is our first ever project, we worked incredibly hard,” says lead singer Thomane.
Finding themselves as nominees is no surprise to the trio, “we had hoped to have more nominations, like best newcomer and best Afro-pop album, although we knew that the competition is very tight.”
Thomane says the group want to win the trophy.
“We hope that four months of cold but fun, sleepless nights will pay off. We would also like to go international.
“We are already on the Stevie Wonder-owned KJLH radio in the US. So we plan to go big internationally,” says Kototsi.
Their hit song has already reached the number nine spot on the KJLH charts.
Encore are exploiting the power and appeal of the song by releasing a reloaded version featuring musicians Margaret Motsage, Sifiso Khanyile and Nokukhanya Dlamini.
What’s more, Encore will also drop videos next month.
“The highlight of our State Theatre show was probably seeing members of the Asian community – singing to says Thomane. The ensemble plan a
tour that will start on Valentine’s Day eve and end in March.
They will make stops in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kimberley, Mahikeng and Polokwane.
Talking about the style of their music, Kototsi says it is organic.
“We did not choose our genre, it chose us. Kabelo just came with a guitar one day and started playing, and that was it. We’ve never been confused about our genre.”
Thomane adds: “We are inspired by the love of Christ. We just look around and we see love.
“Simple relationships inspire us, like our brotherly love for each other. Love is simple and love is God.” -