Represent Interview: Mo Laudi
Meet Mo Laudi, a star-reaching globetrotting South African dj and MC living in Paris, (the city otherwise known as Paname by locals…just by the way). He’s a part of The Very Best and Radioclit, released and album with in 2006 with British punk rock band called weapons. Follow him on twiiter on @molaudi and check out his MySpace and of course Facebook. Meet MoLaudi Hey Mo, thanks for chatting with us… tell us…where did you grow up? Born in Seshego, zone 3 moved to the Polokwane suburbs when Apartheid ended, went to high school in Pretoria, higher education in Johannesburg Allenby campus, then AAA school of advertising. Who is MoLaudi in 2010? Same dude I’ve always been, just growing, still inquisitive, into various musical cultures, art, I love street culture, working on my album… What inspired you to get into music? My family, my brother used to loooove music, he had a book of lyrics, he would stop and start songs and write the lyrics down and even before that my parent used to have a community choir they would go to practice a few times in the a week in the evening, my mother was the conductor and my father sang bass, they would ask us who wanted to come to the choir competitions with them and we would mostly say yes. What’s your first memory of music? Music has always been around my house before I was born, there is nothing I can specifically call the first memory, I’m sure even when I was born someone was singing. I remember when I was toddler in the township, my mother would be practicing the violin in her bedroom and outside me and my friends were listening, amazed at hearing such a rare sound. What are some of your strongest influences and who inspires you musically in 2010? I’m inspired by everything around me, sounds of Ghettos around the world, ideas I read, visuals, Ronald Dahl, SA house, Mars Volta, 80’s rock, old school hip hop, electro, afro beat, Coupé Décalé , dubstep… What makes great music? No boundries, touching people’s heart, the connection, I’m personally into rhythms, I love a great beat that sound like it captures ancient spirits and at the same time new and fresh to rock any club around the world Whose music should we absolutely not miss out on in 2010? Mine, lol check out the The very Best, Radioclit, looking forward to the new M.I.A, I love Blk Jks, Spoek Mathambo, Gazelle What are the challenges of a South African growing up abroad? Visa issues, The displacement and the loneliness not being able...
Represent ♥’s Everyday Tweeple – Meet @MelanieMinnaar
Je vous présente number 3 in our (newish) series Represent ♥’s Everyday Tweeple– @MelanieMinnaar . Inspired by tweets in our stream that made us want to know more about the hearts and minds behind the 140 characters… Meet Melanie Minaar, she shares some fabulous insights with us… we most hearted finding out about the local term SABC… South African Born Chinese… I’ll leave the rest for you to discover. Sharpile Melanie! Don’t forget to follow Editorista on @sisiwami to find out who’s next in the series… It’s another dude… Twitter Bio: Head IMC at Standard Bank, mom to archangels Michael & Gabriel, wife to an IT networking consultant. Part of the Chinese diaspora – rooted in Africa. What is IMC and what is a day in the life of the Head of IMC at Standard Bank? IMC is a marketing management philosophy that advocates integration of business and marketing, as well as of the various marketing disciplines. In my position at Standard Bank it stands for ‘Integrated Marketing Communication’ and my role is to primarily ensure synergy of messaging across traditional and emerging/digital media channels, and secondly to optimise how we implement campaigns across the new media spectrum. Marketing Ops and development of the group wide creative look and feel also fall under my responsibility. A typical day is filled with meetings, meetings, meetings, teleconferences and presentations – all necessary as we operate globally and need to keep use our time effectively to communicate with our non-South African based colleagues and agencies. In between these diary-fillers, there are campaign deadlines to be met – approvals or direction is sought and provided by a network of advertising, online and studio managers. There is always much to learn when you work for a company like Standard Bank – whether it be about growing your marketing skills, financial service industry acumen or general knowledge about the countries which we operate in. I am currently enjoying maternity leave so no deadlines other than the next episode of Girls of the Playboy Mansion to look out for… How would you summarise your nearly 5000 Tweets? A fellow Tweeter asked me if I had OCD after seeing all my Tweets in their timeline! Sadly, that is how I would describe my online and offline habits. Once I find something that I enjoy, I give it my all. Knowledge and information sharing is key to who I am so my Tweets are predominantly about passing on useful information across a broad range of topics and also engaging in conversation whether it be social or on a topic where I can contribute. It’s been a great...
Represent ♥’s Everyday Tweeple – Meet @matthewncube
Voici numero 2 in our new series Represent ♥’s Everyday Tweeple – inspired by tweets in our stream that made us want to know more about the hearts and minds behind the 140 characters… Meet Matthew Ncube, known on Twitter as @matthewncube – he’s an Afropolitan spreadsheet geek living it large in London – In’it! ;0 Don’t forget to follow Editorista on @sisiwami to find out who’s next in the series… It’s a lady ! Location: 0.000000,0.000000 Web: http://searchgeek.wordpress.com/ Bio: work in paid search. love pivot tables. game theory & chaos theory enthusiast. afropolitan. mostly from zim. What is a pivot table? – a pivot table makes lots of lots numbers in a spreadsheet easy to understand and can make nice graphs and pictures to draw conclusions Please enlighten us with an example of game theory? -Right. Say boy and girl go on a movie date. Boy wants to see action movie. Girl wants to see chick flick. They both want to spend to spend time together. The strategic bargaining is game theory in practice. Simples. What about chaos theory? – Expect the unexpected. There’s a black swan approaching around the corner. Like the reason the laundry in your washing machine is untangled. Your machine probably uses a nonlinear chaotic system, which means every cycle is random. Got it? (umm… no, still not, but I’ll ask my clever friends to explain 😉 ) What ingredients make up an afroplitan? – Young, proudly African, internationally mobile, polyglot, making a mark in the world, the coolest damn people on earth Where’s the rest of you from if not Zim? – Well… the rest has been picked up along the way for example my Pan African music sense, my dull British humour, my European dresscode and my brazen American ego Why London and for how long? – London by coincidence and will be for a very long time (please explain this coincidink further in the comments… pretty please ? ;0 ) So tell us about your night with Mos Def… – I still think I was dreaming Which ‘thing’ are you going to next week at Koko and why? – Some artist is having a gig there showcasing his new album and a friend got me on the guest list. apparently it’s Usher. not the greatest fan but i’m up for a party. Tell us about ‘Bring me my Bow of burning gold’… – My school’s favourite hymn, don’t ask why as it was an all boys boarding school on the Zim/Bots border – sung it at the end of each term – now symbolises the end of anything significant I do...
Represent’s ♥’s Everyday Tweeple – Meet @_Thanda_
In our new series, Represent’s ♥’s Everyday Tweeple, Represent will be introducing you, dear Representah’s to some of the magical everyday tweeple that we follow on our Twitter stream… which if you don’t know already can be followed fervently @sisiwami … Editorista in the mix live and loud from Belgium where she is currently being held. We ask all our questions based on tweets we find intriguing and reveal who’s behind the often mysterious 140 characters… If there’s someone you think we should follow…and interview, hit us up! Represent! First up is Thanda Kunene, better known on Twitter as @_thanda_ he’s from Location: Planet Joburg Bio: Elemential well-beings are united through life. Sketch artist, Design techno geek, Eclectic music adorer, Meditator of most sorts… (Karma Shall Deliver) So what’s an elemential well being? Basically, a human being has a sense of wellness inside and out of them. The type of well being I am is composed of many elements, which is how I conned the term of being elemential. Please can you share some of your sketches with us? Yeah… In due time. Still busy (Haha), I promise though. (see below and above for some graphic work) What are the top 5 tracks you’re listening to right now? 1) Q-tip ft Gary Thomas – Do You Dig U? 2) The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur 3) Dj Cam ft Cameo – Love Junkee (J Dilla Dub instrumental) 4) Yesterday’s New Quintet – Sunrays 5) Kwani Experience – Dipula Can you give us an example of some meditating you did recently? Basic Yoga and Meditation. Just being in silence. Also reading and drawing. Why did you hate matric at school? I felt locked in the “system”, I never liked the classes and I always felt that it limited my creativity and expression. Who are the ideal guests for your 23rd birthday? Whenever it comes, it shall be just a few friends (Not more than 12), good home cooked meal and wine with a lot of music, too much music actually. And conversation, lot of that good talking… Who is your celebrity crush on? Ah man! (Haha) Ummm, Estelle. Especially with her goofy teeth and dark complexion and that structure, did I just say that? Besides Adidas, what other brands are super-legendary? It depends on the scenery, for me as a complex dude I’d preferably say the following do it for me 1) Supra 2) Nike SB (SB only) 3) Hello Kitty 4) Sony PlayStation 5) Energie You’d rather draw, skate or do anything else besides deal with racism? Explain please. Racism is a matter of the different races to actually...
Represent Review: Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2010
Between bracing the Cape winds, running between stages and having dinner with Bilal (coughcough), our two fabulous Jozi representer’s Lebogang and Akona (you’re always a Jozi girl for us) still managed to cover the Cape Town International Jazz Festival for us this year… and with such panache… What can we say besides a massive Sharpile. Watch your snailmail for your thank yous 😉 See Lebogang’s gorgeous photostory of the event here and read Akona’s review below: Represent! This year’s 11th annual Cape Town Jazz Festival, which took place last weekend, once again got it’s stamp of approval for being one of the grandest music festivals in the country, I also think this event, previously known as North Sea Jazz Festival, is one of the better organised festivals out there save for the crazy Cape Town wind trying to get it’s time in the spotlight. The line – up was incredible, the most exciting part for me are the number of fusion artists I had never heard of – you see, the Jazz Fest for me is the place I go to be introduced to new music without being caught out as an ignoramus by die-hard fans. T his is where the artists have to bear their souls through their craft, this is where they introduce themselves to the possibility of new fans – me being one of them of course. 42 acts, over two nights, on 5 stages = a whole lot of dancing, singing, crying, with a healthy dose of soul touching music to keep you entertained. On the first night, with a late start to the evening, I was blown away not only by the Cape Town wind at the ‘Bassline’ stage (which was setup outside of the International Convention Centre) but also by the Japanese fusion jazz group – a six man group playing what I’d call dance music, with a very jazzy root. It was impossible not to be mesmerized not only by their energy, but the way in which they got the audience involved, singing hooks, dancing, clapping along and creating a measurable heat out in the open stage (audience by now had to do just about everything not to succumb to the thrashing of the wind). What was most important is how the band didn’t seem bothered nor allowed themselves to be distracted by the wind and sand smacking them about on stage, they never skipped a beat – at one point I saw the saxophonist cough out some dirt only after blowing his instrument to the tunes. The Soil and Pimp Sessions is a vibrant band who transcend any expectations, MC, trumpet,...
Sony’s Earth F.C., a formidable team to be on
Sony is stepping up to the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) plate with the launch of their impressive campaign “Earth F.C.” , a major social investment initiative anchored around the FIFA World Cup Football tournament taking place in South Africa in less than 3 months (woopee!) … let’s not forget Sony is lucky enough to be an ‘official partner’. We’ve had a look at their offering and we must say we approve, it’s creative, well thought through, meaningful, through-the-line and at the same time fun. Good job Sony. Represent! The campaign is made up of three main elements, first, the “Public Viewing in Africa”, a series of awesome public screening areas planned for the colourful West African countries of Ghana and Cameroon (both qualifying countries) where access to TV is limited but soccer is everything. “Sony employees have teamed up with UNDP, JICA and local NGOs [so] our caravan of vehicles can move around the country, setting up big screens in public places like village squares and schools. The live broadcasts will primarily be for matches involving African teams.” Sony have also incorporated an HIV/Aids education drive into the program, offering ‘education, counseling and testing can be offered before the matches and at halftime’. ‘A trial run co-sponsored with JICA in Ghana last year delivered impressive results: 7,200 people took part in the event (five times the normal JICA figure in rural areas) with 1,100 of them getting tested for HIV test (3 times the normal figure). Clearly this approach can increase the reach of HIV/AIDS education.’ JICA and GHANA you can also read more about the Ghana trials here. The second prong consists of a bunch (1000) of ‘ highly durable yet environmentally conscious vegetable-based Join the Team plastic footballs‘ that have been designed by Sony’s engineers with the aim of creating robust footballs suitable for the African terrain and conditions. Sony is hoping to get a million clicks – with every 1000 clicks a ball will be donated. It’s simple, go here and click on Join the Team and play some virtual soccer ball passing around the globe (FYI we were pass number 9359 and 9 balls so far have been donated (it’s the 1st of April 2010)… ) The third part of the program is a little closer to our hearts, as it’s about giving out 15000 tickets to South African kids between the ages of 12 and 15 who would otherwise never be able to afford the matches, we’re not sure how they’re managing this but they will be transporting and looking after them and of course dressing them in specially designed Sony bandanas 😉 There’s...
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