Mango Groove: That Madiba energy is STILL there let's recharge!Mango Groove became something of a soundtrack to people's lives' in the 80s. We chat to Claire Johnston ahead of their Kirstenbosch concert.
by Cornelia Le Roux
12-01-2023 21:03
in Entertainment
Mango Groove will be performing on Sunday at the Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts, in Cape Town. Image: Supplied
The slopes of Table Mountain will be alive with Mango Groove's unique big band Marabi-Pop sound as the group is set to perform at the Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts on Sunday 15 January.
--
Mango Groove: Power to the music Mango Groove have been fusing pop and township rhythms for more than 35 years, carrying our nation through some of South Africa's most turbulent times with smash hits such as like Special Star, Dance Some More, Hellfire and Move Up.
The band also created the music which accompanied the broadcast of late president Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1994.
ALSO READ: Mandela and the Queen of Hearts: From prison to the Palace
--
Claire Johnston and Mango Groove in a publicity photo of days gone by. Image: Supplied
Forming at the cusp of a game-changing era for South Africa, the group made headlines around the world for becoming one of the first acts to integrate black and white musicians together, celebrating what it means to be South African instead of letting politics divide them.
Since their foundation in 1984, Mango Groove have released six studio albums and numerous singles.
The band received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 South African Music Awards (Samas) and has 30 platinum sales in South Africa alone.
Other notable achievements include playing at the SOS Racism concert in Paris and performing via satellite recording in the global Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert.
Their most recent album, 2016's Faces to the Sun, was more than four years in the making.
ALSO READ: Middelvinger releases new party anthem' with Claire Johnston from Mango Groove
Q&A with Mango Groove darling Claire Johnston The group's lead singer Claire Johnston now 55 was only 17 when she joined the popular fusion band as their frontwoman in 1984. The blonde music powerhouse quickly became the unique voice and face of Mango Groove's eclectic image and performances.
Despite her sublime music talent, the singer songwriter who has performed performed in London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Sydney with Mango Groove, also boasts a degree in English, Philosophy, and Politics, according to Ghanadmission.
--
The South African chatted to Johnston about the lasting impact Mango Groove has had on South Africa, their most emotional on-stage moment and THAT Madiba energy
Mango Groove has been around for many years now and remains a top-class live act, what is the secret to constant success and remaining relevant in such a fast-paced industry? Thank you! I can only think that it has something to do with the fact that we love performing live as much as we do. All 11 of us really enjoy being together on stage and fling ourselves into each performance, so hopefully that mad energy is infectious.
We have always been astonished by the support we get from audiences across the generations and it tells you a story about the power of music.
What is your fondest memory of being on stage? Where to begin?! There are incredible memories from the early days in smoky clubs followed by bigger and slightly more intimidating gigs in stadiums and in foreign countries.
But, possibly the stand-out on an emotional level is still the inauguration of Nelson Mandela back in 1994. A time of huge hope and a sense of what it is to be South African, along with being welcomed back into the world. It was a time when anything was possible. We need some of that energy back now. It's there.
Why do you think the music of Mango Groove has become so iconic among South Africans? Mango Groove was born out of the dark days of the mid-1980s when music meant so much with its power to change hearts and minds.
Our first album was released during the transition to democracy and was played on pretty much every radio and TV station. So, we were lucky enough to reach pretty much all South Africans at a time of enormous hope. This has made us something of a soundtrack to people's lives, which makes us very happy.
ALSO READ: Heritage Day: Proudly South African songs to add to your playlist
You share the stage with many popular South African acts (young and old), whose music and musical style are you loving at the moment? We've been fortunate to work with so many sublime artists recently, and were reminded how much we love Mafikizolo, Matthew Mole, Goodluck, Wonderboom and John Ellis, as well being blown away by Verandah Panda and Simmy. There is so much remarkable talent in South Africa that we could go on and on
ALSO READ: #Sama27: Matthew Mole on winning Record of the Year [watch]
ALSO READ: New Music Friday: Groove to new releases by Mafikizolo and more [listen]
What is your message of advice for future musicians or those wanting to follow a career in music? Dream BIG but also make sure you have your feet on the ground, as it is not an easy career choice. Be prepared for huge highs potentially followed by crushing lows so make sure you look after your mental and physical health.
It's very important to be original: Find your own style and then really perfect it. Also, surround yourself with people who believe in you and care enough about you to be genuinely honest with you.
These days, of course, so much relies on being social media savvy, so get comfortable with finding your voice on the various platforms, but don't let the haters get into your head.
Mango Groove Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts Details:
Book: Tickets for all performances can be p
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
29/04/2024
(L-R) Mark Gatiss and Polly Walker on set
Monday 29 April 2024 Further casting is now confirmed for Bookish (6x70), a brand-new drama created by Emmy Award-wi...
29/04/2024
A groundbreaking initiative offering training and mentoring to 30 women journali...
29/04/2024
Even though we've been doing this for over 40 years, a spark of excitement r...
29/04/2024
L3Harris is delivering manpack radios to U.S. Army CH-47 Chinooks as part of the Air-to-Ground Networking Radio program, providing seamless, resilient communica...
29/04/2024
He writes in Defense One: Despite the near-universal acknowledgement throughout the U.S. government and defense industrial base of the criticality of resilient ...
29/04/2024
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/04/2024
Codemill aims to revolutionize media workflow efficiency at this years NAB Show by introducing Just-In-Time (JIT) playback technology in Accurate.Video Validate...
29/04/2024
April 29, 2024
-- TF1 Chooses Broadpeak to Power Targeted Advertising for New...
29/04/2024
LOS ANGELES Allen Media Group (AMG) has partnered with LG Electronics to bring 223 Local Now FAST channels to LG's free streaming service, LG Channels, avai...
29/04/2024
OTTAWA Ross Video has announced the introduction of Raiden, a data-driven weather graphics software that combines data gathering, processing, and visualization ...
29/04/2024
Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision's end-to-end service offerings for...
29/04/2024
Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced that it has received a patent on its technology for dynamic autho...
29/04/2024
SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that Rally Access Workstation, a fully managed solution for editing in...
29/04/2024
Premier Sports, a premium sports broadcaster, has selected QuickLink's Remote Commentary solution for introducing professional, high-quality remote commenta...
29/04/2024
Glookast has chosen Jigsaw24 Media as the only UK channel partner to represent their portfolio of ingest and workflow optimisation products. The agreement, sign...
29/04/2024
Clear-Com played a pivotal role in the seamless coverage of the recent solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Leveraging its cutting-edge Eclipse HX Digital Matrix i...
29/04/2024
PlayBox Neo will promote its complete range of television channel management, graphic branding and playout solutions to EMEA region media content owners and bro...
29/04/2024
Lingo, RuPaul's word-twisting game show, returns for season two on CBS Friday, May 24. Two episodes air that night, and stream on Paramount Plus, too....
29/04/2024
ESPN and Amazon Prime Video are reportedly close to scoring television rights to the National Basketball Association, according to published reports....
29/04/2024
Judge Judy and Hot Bench, CBS Media Ventures' genre-leading court shows, have been renewed through the 2025-26 TV season in more than 95% of the country, Gr...
29/04/2024
Premier Sports, an Irish-based premium sports broadcaster, has selected QuickLink's Remote Commentary solution for introducing professional, high-quality re...
29/04/2024
The awards celebrate the craft of behind-the-scenes TV talent and the best programmes of 2023
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: April 29, 2024
The awards cel...
29/04/2024
The team at Milk had to create and deliver the VFX and environment work for the royal residences featured in the drama from scratch
By Jenny Priestley
Publis...
29/04/2024
CEO Bob Bakish is expected to leave the company as early as today, with a new leadership committee likely to run the company on an interim basis
By Jenny Pries...
29/04/2024
Albena Ivanova, director, media and entertainment and strategic products at CHAOS talks to TVBEurope about her route into the industry
By TVBEurope Staff
Pub...
29/04/2024
The acquisition gives Grand Technix the opportunity to expand its footprint in the audio visual and broadcast technology sectors
By Jenny Priestley
Published...
29/04/2024
29 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces James J. Robinson's debut feature First Light
First Light
Principal Photography is underway on Firs...
29/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting recently became the inaugural company honored with inductio...
29/04/2024
April 29th, 2024 UNINTERRUPTED AND TRIBECA ENTERPRISES PARTNER FOR SECOND-ANNUA...
29/04/2024
Rebrand and refresh: SailGP talks bringing its graphics operations inhouse for a...
29/04/2024
Reflecting on a Storied Career: Sean McManus Looks Back While Keeping an Eye on ...
29/04/2024
Drones Take Flight Inside MSG: How Sky Candy Studios is Upping the Excitement fo...
29/04/2024
Back to All News
Netflix Announces a Diverse Lineup of Polish Titles to Debut i...
29/04/2024
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Fanyana feels embarrassed about his sexual mishapDon't miss Monday, 29 April's riveting episode of South African soapie Sm...
29/04/2024
Talk about commitment. When startup SEA.AI, an NVIDIA Metropolis partner, set out to create a system that would use AI to scan the seas to enhance maritime safe...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
27/04/2024
On April 26, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher E. Kubasik joined CNBC's Mor...
27/04/2024
PORTLAND, Oregon Audinate Group Limited, the developer of the Dante AV-over-IP solution, announced significant new additions to Dante Connect, its cloud-based D...
27/04/2024
TORONTO Bell Media has launched 10 English and French-language FAST channels featuring entertainment, factual, news, and sports programming. The new free stream...
27/04/2024
An extensive new analysis of the news segments in the broadcast evening news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS has found that broadcasters devoted most of their...
27/04/2024
GERMANTOWN, Md. EchoStar's Hughes Network Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland....
27/04/2024
Harry Pappas, one of three brothers who founded Pappas Telecasting Companies in 1971, died April 24. He was 78 years old....
27/04/2024
ATLANTA and LONDON Mexican telecommunications and broadcast company Televisa has selected Synamedia for an overhaul of its broadcast distribution....
27/04/2024
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this surve...
27/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
SDVI, the leading platform provider for clo...
27/04/2024
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Cert...
27/04/2024
Charter Communications reported higher first-quarter profits despite continued cord-cutting and competition for broadband customers....
Mango Groove: That Madiba energy is STILL there let's recharge!Mango Groove became something of a soundtrack to people's lives' in the 80s. We chat to Claire Johnston ahead of their Kirstenbosch concert. 
