Seeing that my Open Letter to ONE, my favourite music show, lay undiscovered in my oh-so-wonderful blogiwood, I had to make a plan to get it to their attention, especially seeing that my complaint about Kelly Khumalo went unnoticed.
A quick email to the ever wonderful Tashi Tagg and I found myself at the Urban Brew Studios face to face with the funky presenter/producer of ONE, Andile Ncube.
Such awesomeness! But shame, it wasn’t about looks this time, I had concerns I needed him to address and I went there in full Brown Shuga mode…Beef, Beef, Beef!
I had mixed feelings about being right next to him when he first read the piece, I mean, what if he got mad and decided to give me a beating right there and there? I mean, if Mzwakhe Mbuli did it, why can’t Andile?
I had no chance of escaping though because what stood between me and the door was Andile’s serious looking co-producer, Sam Magagula and brother does look like he works out…a bit. Wassup Sam!!
So I calmly logged on to TVSA and watched the dreadlocked one react to each complaint/comment made in the letter...
Battle lines were drawn…. IT"S ON!!
There I was, taking on this man, who holds so much power in Mzansi’s music industry and I hold so much power in…umm…what do I have power in?..ag maan, I have power nje ok!
"I ain't scared of ya!!!!"
Well, I think Andile kinda had the idea that there was a bit of unfair advantage in this battle so when he heard that I had no knowledge of TV Productions whatsoever, he took it upon himself to show me around the different sets at the Urban Brew Studios. The very informative tour included Noeleen’s corner, his corner, Shift, House Call, Lotto Draw set, Wild Room and it was done with a lotta fun so Andile boy, if TV doesn’t work out for you, you can always open your own Andile’s Tours business.
Back to the letter and the beef, here are Andile's responses to my concerns about ONE:
Shuga singing: "Lean on Me, when your show sucks, I'll pull ur hair, I'll help you carry on"
His general comments about my criticism of the show:
"I always say if you’re gonna criticize me and say Andile I don’t like your show because I don’t like your shoes, or your dreadlocks are not the neatest etc, then I’m gonna have a problem with you and I will just tell you “Wena f**k off." But if you’re gonna watch my show and come back and say ‘"Andile, why is Kelly Khumalo always on your show, and I am getting a bit tired of these graphics" or just put valid points like you did then I'm cool with that criticism."
On Kelly Khumalo: About the flirting part, Andile goes, "she does?" and then he went on to say that Kelly had only been to the show about 5 times since her first album and there has always been a reason why she was there but he did undertake to look at it because they were not aware they were overdozing us on her fabulousness or the lack of it....ok, that last part was me.
On TS Records: Andile says TS marketing is very good at informing them of what's going on with their artists, which is why they get such exposure. Not only on ONE but all over. Whenever Sbu scratches his chiskop, Andile gets an email to say , hey uSbu usuzile and he always tells recording companies to do the same with their artists. "No matter how small you think something us, keep us informed. Send an email or something."
On Mgarimbe: He personally hates Mgarimbe's Sister Bethina but because people loved the song , they had to bring him to the show to put a face to the song and the second time he came was with a whole lot of other artists for the Christmas Show.
On the same faces all the time: Andile says It is not easy to get out of town artists on the show so the guests are usually limited to JHB based artists. Jhb based artists are then trimmed down to Urban, with a hint of something South African so at the end of the day, the pool is not as big as one may think it is.
The show also tries to build an artists' profile in the sense that they interview the artist this week, the following week play a video and the week after get them to perform in studio. He adds "That is all I can give you as an artist. If you don’t take off after that push then you’re not gonna take off at all."
Well, I am not a hard-to-please person so I was at least glad that I managed to voice my thoughts and even happier that someone who has control over the situation, took the time out to listen and note the concerns!
With the BEEF settled, Andile and I sat down to do one of my most beautiful interviews for sure (It is going to be!). So please log in to Blogiwood next week for Andile's hott chat with yo gal.
In the interview he chats about family, music, his love for Katlego Danke (he does!) plus the relaunch of the show in March! Yes, the show is going through a total revamp, name change and all (remember where you heard it first) so be sure to catch the interview to read up on that and there might be a special treat for ya'll...mmh.
After the interview it was Karaoke time and I had my own Beyonce moment....
"To the left, To the left, everything you own in the box to the left"
Ok, please don't laugh at how ridiculous my hands are here, I wasn't really trying to do Ingwazz, he was. I don't think we would make it onto JIKA MAJIKA or DANCE AFRICA. Andile, let's stick to our day jobs bhuti!!
I think he actually believes he can dance...fun times though...
And then it was definitely time to go....
If I had any impact on Andile at all, then you will see this guy on his show tonight! If you guys remember, I had
Lesego as my "
Artist of The Moment" for a good couple of months and at the mention of his name I had to insist that he be invited to the show and Andile said he would invite him tonight so am waiting to see if it happens.....
Lesego is definitely one of the hottest things around so do check out the peeps I put on "
the right hand side" coz yo gal has a talent for recognizing talent"...
Andile, thank you for the response bro, we hope your show will continue to rock/shake/shape and build Mzansi. Amen
Remember ONE on SABC 1, Fridays at 21:00, it's a date!!!!!
*Share love, hate, thoughts , comments with brownshuga@tvsa.co.za - Holler!!!