First order of business: RE/MAX Big Day Out 2013 This years Big Day Out is set to be the family event of the year in the Helderberg area, and simply be able to be bigger and better than the past 2 events. The line up is confirmed and so are The Rudimentals - That means that there is only one place to be on Saturday 2 March - Southey’s Vines in Somerset West, for a day that will be full of shade, beer, great music and good times! It’s a really great feeling when we are able to stumble across entertainers that have something special This happened to me at Rock the River when I ran into, and started chatting to Lungelo Ndlovu. Lungelo is a comedian from Cape Town and has graced the Niva Mag cover with his funny face to become the first comedian in nearly 2 years to be featured in Niva Mag. I’m really stoked to have the opportunity of bringing you the interview with Lungelo - He is down to earth and seems willing to give his career his everything. Lungelo has been discussing a booking contract with Niva and will have his first performance under the brand on Saturday 2 March in Somerset West. Do yourself a favour and come check this cat out! This months edition is pretty slim (once again), but be sure to check out our ‘Get to know’, ‘Quiz”, & ‘Photo gallery in the March edition. On the cover next month we have a local band who Niva Mag has chosen as one of the top 10 rising Capetonian bands. We looking forward to bringing you this dirty little interview! Have a great February, and see you at the Big Day Out! :) Nic Owen (Editor)
Writers / contributors: Ice Carstens, Nic Owen, Travis Stone, Ryno De Lange Photographers: Nic Owen, Belia OH Photography, Vetman van Der Naam Cover Photography: Niva Magazine Printing: Spectrum Print / Boland Print Editor: Nic Owen Design and Layout: Nic Owen General Magazine Queries: nivamag@nivarecords.com Advertising Related Queries: nowen@nivarecords.com Send Your Contributions and Articles to: nivamag@nivarecords.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in Niva Magazine are not necessarily those of Niva Magazine, it’s editor, or it’s advertisers. No parts of this magazine may be edited or reproduced without consent from Niva Magazine.
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Bring out those dancing shows, coz its time for the blues to kick you in the head like a night out with Hendrix. This years event will be hosted at Kleinmond Harbour, with an array of talented SA blues artists such as Gerald Clark, Crimson House Blues, Dan Patlansky, Lyzard Kings, Valiant swat band, amongst many others! Early bird tickets are sold out, but tickets are available at the gate for R280.00.
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By Nic Owen
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Hi Lungelo! I must admit that I am actually pretty honoured to have you be the first ever SA comedian to grace the Niva Mag cover. I have seen you perform once (which I thoroughly enjoyed), but for all your new fans, tell them what you are about, how you got into comedy, and how you plan to take your comedy career as far is can possibly go. Well Nic, it’s an honour for me to let you feature me! I started doing comedy without me even knowing it, and before I knew it, I was performing in front of people, showing them that I had something special to offer them. Loyiso Gola performed at my school, and as he was one of my favourite comedians in SA, I was super excited! When I got to the event that evening they said he was running a bit late and so they had opening acts for him, and one of them was the late Rustum August (may he rest in peace) and the other was the very funny Dylan Skews. Now these two guys alone were not enough to keep the people going up until Loyiso got there, so what they did was put Poets up there to entertain us and that just didn’t sit well with me because I had come there to laugh! I then walked up to the MC and told him to put me on stage and he was a bit reluctant to do it. H actually said, ‘This next guy says he is a comedian, I don’t know him so he if he aint funny don’t blame me!’ I then went on with a very badly chosen outfit I had on that day. I was wearing a pink shirt with green shorts and sandals; I looked like a gay ninja turtle! I also had on my black hat which has been worn for every performance thereafter. From that day on, all I had to do was add Rustum and Dylan on Facebook. Rustum said that I should come to town and do shows with them and I actually had to lie again for a show they were doing at UWC with Peter Serwanga, Gino Fernandez and Mum-Z and they let me play with them which was cool because I had more confidence then after I had won the Vodacom Funniest Student on Campus competition where I met Ndumiso Lindi who said to me after that show,” You are sitting on gold young man, think about it!”. I begged all over for stage time after that and Mum-Z gave me my first taste of club comedy when he was still running the Purple Turtle gigs on Long Street. I can proudly say that this is my calling and I do not net much negativity stand in my way when there is a show involved. I’m in no rush to do a one man show but it would be nice to shoot a DVD with a few of the guys I’ve worked with and in a year or two I’m gonna start making plans for a TV show because we seriously short of those in this country and when we do, the content is just so censored and weak that it makes you wish you were a writer on that show. You grew up in a small town in KZN and later moved to Cape Town to study at CPUT – Could you share some background on your childhood, as well as tell the readers at what stage of your life you found an interest and understanding of the performing arts?
Well growing up in KZN was quite interesting also because I jumped around a lot in primary school. I first started performing traditional Zulu dancing from grade 2 and I was the leader of the group. This was in a rural area called Middelrust and I moved from there to another town called Weenen where I performed in the school choir, at one point I was left the only boy in the choir and I also found my love for hockey until grade 6 and then left and went to stay in MooiRiver where I was begged by the principal to try rugby. Who would have known that come end of the year I would win player of the year. I also starred in the school play at MooiRiver Primary School and we were doing Snow white and I was the king her father who was looking for a new wife, so I had to kiss half the girls in the school which was AWESOME LOL! But what I did there was change my lines a bit and the teachers were very impressed with my changes because they made people laugh so they asked me to keep them. I graduated to Estcourt High School where my focus was a number of things but mainly girls, ladies, women and not forgetting females! I really hadn’t decided what I would study after high school was over but one of my English teachers told me I should study acting after I killed a Chris Tucker imitation in class. During those days Stand Up Comedy was just something I collected and watched, only curious about how those people felt when they were up there, I never knew I would get to feel it first-hand. You are now 3 years into your career as a comedian. You have performed along-side some great performers such as: Ndumiso Lindi, Paul Snodgrass, Martin Davis (UK), and many others. You are starting to attract the attention of larger events, festivals and organizers – Is everything going according to plan so far? Have you found it difficult to crack into the scene? I can say that this are going well but not as well as I expected to go. The comedy scene has been pretty slow here in Cape Town and you get that there is so much talent down here that is not being funded for and not getting any media coverage which is much better than what is in Jo-burg. I didn’t expect to be the most famous in 3 years but I can say that Cities like Durban and Cape Town are being neglected hence most artist flock to Gauteng to make it more famous and not actually getting to do it for the people closest to them. I am however glad though that my name is getting out there more and hopefully it will land on the hands of a lot more cooperate gigs. I would love nothing more that living comedy every day of my life and that is where I want to be actually, even though I have a qualification for TV work, I would rather be a writer in that field while doing my stand up all over the country. Having to be known by others in the comedy circuit was not that hard for me because I did something these new bees are not doing at all, I listened to the advice that was given to me and it really has made me grow as a comedian in terms of performance, writing and adapting to a particular audience because we know that they are never the same. These new bees here in Cape Town are !
coming in with so much arrogance as if they have BEEN doing comedy but when you watch them perform its just pathetic and they are not even willing to be criticized because they know it all. I just want to keep my focus and add on to the list of big names I have worked with thus far. I have noticed that you perform with an array of other comedians at all your performances – Tell the readers a little bit about each of your co-performers. Your style of comedy is fresh, witty and simply hilarious to say the least – What are your major influences that have determined the areas/topics you usually cover in a performance? Well I have a very close friend and partner in the comedy crimes and his name is Devin Gray. He started his career in Johannesburg and we met at a gig at Ragazzi on Long Street and we complimented each other’s performances for the night and just clicked from there onwards. Another man that I am forever grateful for knowing is Rustum August. He really was a great comic to work with, we may not have been best of friends but when it came to comedy Rustum was forever willing to work with you on whatever project you had without having to make ridiculous and unnecessary demands. Then there is Brendon Murray who was the first comic I ever got advice from about how to do things in the game. His words have stuck with me since 2010 when we met. The one thing he said was to always try to get the people laughing within the first 10 seconds of being on stage and it should be a good laugh. This makes the audience more relaxed and welcoming to you in terms of how they laugh. There is Calvin J Benson who is always great to perform with, Dalin Oliver who is another young gun like me, Gino Fernandez who has been in the industry for quite some time and runs great gigs in the Southern suburbs at Chilli Bar, K.G who one of the best we have in the country and has been on Comedy Central, Nelson de Gouveia who is one of the craziest white boys I’ve seen on stage, Gareth Woods who is a funny musical genius from Durban and so many more names, like Martin Davis, Paul Snodgrass, Carl Weber, Mel Jones of heart FM, Charles Tertiens who acts on SABC ones Montana. I cannot list everybody but these are some of the best names to work with. I get influenced by everything and everyone I meet and see actually. I never sit down and say ok today I’m writing jokes, it just hits me at a particular time and I then jot it down and not the entire joke, I just simply write what it is about and I leave the rest to my head to arrange. Recently I had a beautiful baby girl and during delivery I was busy performing in my head, its crazy I know but don’t judge me. This will put a bottle in her mouth and nappies on her little behind so she nothing to complain about. I could even be at a funeral I see something that would just work for my set, basically I do not limit myself, like
some comedians do not want to do sexual material because its supposedly filthy, well to me and for me its gold! If you are close to me and you do something stupid and I just happen to find out, bet money your donkey will end up in my set somehow. I do a lot of racial humour, a hell of a lot of sexual humour and then there is just jokes about how I see things, basically making fun on myself, audiences love that. The comedy stage at Rock the River NYE festival was set up over a day and a half late, comedians wanted to leave, but you insisted on sticking around to wait for the opportunity to perform. When the stage was finally set up, the crowd flocked to the comedy tent and stuck around until you were done. I know you must have been extremely irritated and frustrated to wait around for a day and a half, but after the stage was set up and you attracted a good crowd, did it change your mood and your overall impression of the festival? It actually did change my whole view of the festival but the reason I stayed behind and saw it through is because I hate failing at something and since there was a way I could still make it work, I could not just give up. The people I worked with after the other pulled out, I really owe a big thank you to because I could not have done it alone for an entire 3 days. What I did understand is that such things do happen in this industry and if you are gonna throw your toys around each time something goes wrong then you definitely in the wrong sport. I have seen many other gigs crash but the people behind them still have the belief that the next one will be better and that is the kind of attitude I took with me going into it. It is not easy being a promoter, it is just in you to keep your head up and do your best in making sure that the next one is better than the last. There are so many talented peeps in South Africa, but very few actually push through the tough times, and nurture their talents. This is most probably because the performing arts scene in South Africa is TOUGH, to say the very least! You have been pushing very hard for about 3 years now, and I want to know where you see yourself and comedy career in the next 3 years? It really is a tough industry to break into. Those who love attention may see it as an opportunity to be in the spotlight and have groupies but it’s not all glitz a glam once you’re in it. If you stay true to yourself and do it because you believe in it and believe in yourself than nothing can stand in your way. You just have to work extra hard up until that opportunity hands itself to you and you just grab it with both hands because nobody else is going to do it for you. I know because where I come from, nobody has ever taken this route and to other people when you do not have a 9 to 5 job and busy doing things in the entertainment industry, you are seen as just some crazy thing that is lazy to work. People put you
down, say things that make you want to quit it all but what I always tell myself is that, they never feel what I feel when I’m on stage, they do not know the kind of response and love you get from stranger at your gigs and lastly they are not the one with that talent, so for them to speak it is very easy. You can say anything you want when you do not relate to something, but if you have an idea then you will understand where one is coming from. You are confirmed to perform at the RE/MAX Big Day Out on Saturday 2 March, along-side an insane line up of local bands – Who will be joining you for this performance, and do you have anything extra special planned for the gig? I am bringing along 7 other crazy comedians. Devin Gray, Gino Fernandez, Gareth Woods, Nelson de Gouveia, K.G, Dalin Oliver and Calvin J Benson. We plan to rock Somerset! We are going to make it two shows for the people featuring four comedians each. I will be performing in the second and final show of the event and I plan to be a just two levels above my normal crazy, stupid self as I will tell people a bit about how my daughter was born. Its insane I tell you! And since this will be an event with bands, I think people will warm up to Gareth Woods pretty well since he does his set with a guitar! I have heard that you are thinking about working with a Cape Town booking agency – What do you think this will do for your career? I am quite excited about that actually! I have been doing my own hustling for the past 3 years and maybe I could have gone further had comedy been my only focus but now that I will have somebody else looking for gigs for me, I think this will do me great in terms of growing, being well-known and appreciated for my talent. I think it will be a busy schedule for me which will make me one of the most talked about names in comedy in the next 3 years. I will also continue doing things like I have been doing but the agency will play a great roll in what I do from here onwards. Where can your new fans keep in touch with you and stay up to date with your upcoming performances? Well I would be very happy if they could add me on MXIT LOL! I have a Facebook fan page that they can like, it’s called ComicLuu and I have a twitter account where they can stalk me, I mean follow me @DaComicLuu but if they want to be even closer to me, they can add me on my personal Facebook account and that one is called Lungelo Ndlovu. Lungelo, it has been awesome chatting to you, do you have any last words or thanks before we finish up? Yes I would like to thank me very much for being so funny, I could not have done this without you Lungelo, thank me so much! I would also like to
send a shout out to my brother TK who was with me from the very beginning of this journey, you’re the man! I then want to thank the mother of my child, you believed in me even when you did not have and for that I am forever grateful and promise to do right by you two. If you know that you have played a part in my comedy career, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you! Lastly I want to thank Niva Mag for making me their first comedian to be in the Mag and also to get the cover, thank you, thank you and thank me once again! Interview & pics by Nic Owen
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Having recently launched his album ‘Black Water’ on our sunny shores, Gerald Clark is now ready to introduce live audiences both locally and abroad to his inimitable, foot-tapping gritty blues. Locally Clark will be performing in a headlining slot at the BIG Blues Music Festival in Kleinmond on Saturday, 2 March (21:30), after which our favourite muso will be packing up his guitar and heading over the pond to the Czech Republic to give them a taste of our home-grown talent over the course of a threeweek tour. No need to fret though, Clark is already hard at work recording his next album (Gerald's ‘Country Soul’ venture) which will be launched as soon as he is back on SA soil. This expertly crafted work is being polished to a high sheen and promises to introduce a wider than ever audience to Gerald Clark's exceptional talent. Niva Magazine sat down with this talented Cape Town-based singer/songwriter to talk about his new album and his Czech Republic tour. How are 2013 treating you thus far? 2013 has been busy thus far, almost done with the album and six shows done already. I am also busy with ‘behind the scenes’ stuff - setting up the marketing for the album etc. How is the recording process of your new album going? Exciting times, care to tell us a little more about this? Yes, the new album is coming along great! Got Adriaan Brand (from Springbok Nude Girls) playing trumpet and accordion and Ronan Skillen on all sorts of percussion. Then we have Guy Collins (from Mean Black Mamba and Hot Water) adding some beautiful honest slide guitar and banjos. Simon Orange is doing all the piano and Hammond etc. The album is being produced by musical genius Schalk van der Merwe and myself. We’ve started playing together years ago in a blues band called Delta Blue, he is still playing with me as part of the band called ‘The Dead Men’. We are recording at TTime studios with Tim Rankin calculating where the ship is going as engineer and drummer. He is also mixing the album. Luna Paige and Karlien van der Walt are helping with the backing vocals. It’s going to sound awesome!
Your new album falls under a genre that you coined as ‘Country Soul’. How would you describe this sound? The sound is ‘country meets soul music’. That is what it sounds to me anyway. To organise an overseas tour can be no easy task. Why the decision to tour to Czech Republic specifically? My Czech tour was initiated by a jazz saxophonist called Rus Nerwich who has also done this tour on a previous occasion. Jonathan Crossley was the first musician from SA to go over. Lukas Kytnar, a jazz bassist, wanted to collaborate with a blues singer/ guitar player and that’s how we got to where we are. I am playing every night form the 11th to the 30th of March, a whole lot of different venues and festivals! We hear that you are going to play at some of the top venues in Prague, as well as, a Jazz and Blues festival overseas. Please tell us more? Yes, that’s correct. I am excited and very much looking forward to it! Catch Gerald Clark at a venue near you when he returns from abroad. His live performances are truly something to experience as he dances around the campfire, the hallelujah and the hellhounds never far behind.
inion, the best up Here is, in my op in Cape Town at and coming band u could think of the moment! If yo acts com bined your best 4 rock ve GW are still ry this should be it! ed e, but have prov fresh in the scen d SA that they to Cape Town an miat it takes to do have exactly wh up’s and keep nate festival line e! banging for mor their fans heads
REBURN have simply exploded in the last 6 months by dropping a highly successful single entitled ‘No other place’ which was able to top local stations as well as be put on rotation on 5FM. The band is pushing very hard, planning to drop another single in the next few months. The band is also preparing for their main stage performance at RAMFEST, and if you know Reburn, this should be nothing less than spectacular!
Rock the River New Year’s Festival has been around for the past 4 years. The festival grew very well through the years, growing their following from around 650 people at the first fest, to around 8 000 people at the 2011/12 fest.
time. Whoopie!! The metal fans that paid their entrance fee to see metal acts were finally granted the right to enjoy their genre of music. A day late, and just in time – I really don’t know how much more these people were going to tolerate.
The 2011/12 event was hosted at the Cape Town Ostrich Farm, and proved to do a world of good for the festival as it was situated so close to Cape Town. This year’s event was hosted in the heart of the Boland, and hosted a massive (possibly overtopped) line up of some of the best performers in South Africa.
There is literally another 50 things I can sit here and entertain you with, but I went to Rock the River for the bands! F*ck the DJ’s, f*ck the organizational problems! The line up on the main stage was potent and played host to a massive array of the best performers that South Africa has on offer. There was absolutely nothing to complain about at this festival if you look at it from a line up point of view.
With my bakkie packed with our festival survival gear, we embarked on our journey from Somerset West expecting to travel a maximum of about 35 minutes to the venue… 3 hours later, we were parked on the side of the road trying to make sense of the directions and GPS co-ordinates on the official RTR flyer. After a lot of frustration, and even having considered driving home, a small shop owner was able to give me directions to the farm entrance that we needed to find. We finally arrived at Rock the River, but little did we know that this was going to be a tiny taste of what the next few days held in store for us… After we had finished setting up our little campsite, we headed down to the main festival grounds to take a look around. On our way through the campsite, we were encountered with a very long running barbed wire fence – this meant that we had to walk all the way back through the campsite, and around all the camping grounds to get to the entertainment areas. This pretty much set our day off on another bad note, and all I wanted was a beer…Oh right, there was no beer for 3 quarters of the first day! How’s that – a rock festival dry on beer on day 1 – people were furious! I heard a lot of snappy comments, but one that stands out was from a mid-aged couple, who had the confidence to say on day 1 of this festival, that it has been by far the worst festival they have ever attended. Eagerly awaiting the opening of the metal stage, I took a seat on the lovely grass and carried on waiting for something to happen. Hours passed, the moon passed, and still nothing…until finally a little 1 tonner pulled up in-front of the stage and started unloading the gear that had been delaying the stage this whole
I spent most of my time floating around the main stage area, and can confidently grace you with my list of the top performers at this year’s festival: - Best drummer Jean (Goodnight Wembley & Dead Lucky) - Best front-man George (Taxi Violence & Goodnight Wembley) - Best bass player Miggs (7th Son) - Best guitarist Ebi (The Mysticcs) - Best performance The Rudimentals - Best crowd reaction The Rudimentals - Best up and coming band Woodstock Mafia - Funniest comedian Lungelo Ndlovu Despite all the little downers that Rock the River handed us, I think the bands were amazing, and that’s pretty much the only thing I focussed on. I hope to see the festival come back at the end of 2013 and show the South African scene that they in-fact do have what it takes to be a top SA rock festival. The organizers surely have a major task ahead of them, and should they be able to bring us Rock the River #6, I will be there! Written by Travis Stone
- NIVA IS BACK WITH THEIR 3RD OUTDOOR EVENT On 2nd March 2013 bring the family to Southeys Vines for a day of enjoyment and fun-for-all-ages at the RE/ MAX Big Day Out. RE/MAX Helderberg, in association with Niva, has sponsored this fabulous event to thank the Helderberg Community for their loyal support over the years. This major event takes place on Saturday 2nd March2013. Gates open at 09h00 and close only at 18h30. This year’s venue (Southey’s Vines) is situated in Somerset West’s Main Road, and already carries an outstanding reputation for family-orientated events. The RE/MAX BIG DAY OUT will appeal to everyone and to all ages! The all-day entertainment will include live music, comedians, picnic areas, Foods of the World, a craft market, beer tent, a RE/MAX Property Expo, waterslides, the RE/MAX jumping castle, and chilling areas in the shade of the trees and under parasols where one can relax and just watch the passing parade! The event is completely child-friendly, with a massive range of kid’s entertainment, prizes and much more, which will appeal to the entire family – set in this tranquil, up-market & well-shaded venue, this is a must-do for all families seeking a fun day out together. For more information, entertainment line-up’s and other updates, keep in touch with our event on our community page : www.facebook.com/NivaBigDayOut The Niva team have successfully hosted over 150 events and are planning to make this the best Niva event to date. The after party - with no cover charge – will be held at The Nameless Pub in Somerset West, which will take place directly after the gates at Southey’s Vines are closed. Tickets will be available from RE/MAX Helderberg – Shop 33, Waterstone Village, as well as at the gate on the day of the event.
Venue: Southey’s Vines, Main Road, Somerset West Tickets: Adults (+13) R30, Kid’s (u13) R10 Times: 9am to 6:45pm Right of admission reserved