Mango Groove interview – Get Lucky Summer 2017
Mango Groove had Plett fans rocking into 2018 on the 31st of December 2017 for the first time in 24 years.
The Get Lucky Summer, special ‘NYE’ edition took place on the Bitou Rugby Club fields in Robberg Beach and ShowMe Plett had the amazing opportunity to interview Mango Groove. Here’s what Claire Johnston had to say…
Mango Groove
Considered one of the most popular and iconic South African band to date – Mango Groove captured the hearts of millions during the apartheid era and were a shining light of hope for many during the 1980s and 90s.
Their sound is an unique blend of South African marabi, kwela, big band swing and pop influences.
Mango Groove have sold more than a million albums, achieving 12 No 1 hits in South Africa. This gives them the title of being the only band in history with an album that remained on a sales chart longer than a year.
30 years later, Mango Groove are still regarded as legends in the music industry for uniting people of all ages, genders and races.
When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
The band formed in Johannesburg in 1984, when I was still a child. Three of the four founding members – John Leyden, Andy Craggs, and Bertrand Mouton, were band mates in a “punk band” called Pett Frog.
In 1984 the three men met kwela musician “Big Voice” Jack Lerole at the Gallo Records building in Johannesburg. Lerole had led a kwela band called Elias and His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes in the late 50’s, and his reputation preceded him. He and the boys from Pett Frog started rehearsing together, and a new band took shape.
In the early days, musicians came and went. Leyden was the only founding member who has stayed on since the very beginning, but the full band is comprised of 11 members.
The band’s name was invented over dinner: a pun on the phrase “Man, go groove!”.
Brief history of your band and accomplishments?
- The South African Broadcasting Corporation has awarded Mango Groove five OKTV awards.
- The band’s debut album, Mango Groove, won in the categories of “Best Album” and “Best Arranger”; one of the singles won “Best Video”.
- In 1991, Hometalk won “Best Pop Album”, and one of its singles won “Hit of the Year”.
- The OKTV Awards were an annual event in which members of the South African media were the judges.
- At the second annual South African Music Awards in 1996, the album Eat a Mango won a SAMA in the category “Best Adult Contemporary Performance: English”.
- In 2017, the band’s seventh studio album, Faces to the Sun, was nominated in the “Best Adult Contemporary Album” and “Best Engineered Album” categories (the engineer was Andrew Baird).
- The award for “Best Adult Contemporary Album” went to Hugh Masekela’s No Borders; the award for Best Engineered Album went to Arno Carstens’ Aandblom 13.
- Other nominees in the Adult Contemporary Album category that year were Elvis Blue’s Optics, Majozi’s Fire, and Msaki’s Zaneliza: How the Water Moves.
- In 2015, Buzz South Africa included “Special Star” on their list of the “100 Greatest South African Songs of All Time”.
Is this your first performance in Plett?
We used to come here on holiday up until a few years ago. My first experience of Plett was with Mango Groove in 1987, where we performed fairly small and personalised shows over a period of 4 years. It was always a huge success and our last concert was on Robberg Beach in 1993 (24 years ago) – a double act with the band OMD. It was an amazing event, with the waves crashing in the background and that was the last time we performed in Plett. So it’s wonderful to be back – it feels real comfortable.
What was it like as a multi-ethnic band during apartheid?
During the bands first seven years, the National Party was in power, and apartheid was an official policy. This made things extremely difficult for the band, as the government’s policy of enforced racial segregation made travel, accommodations and bookings more difficult and sometimes dangerous. On one occasion, John Leyden was arrested on a charge of loitering after he gave Jack Lerole a ride home.
The state was also trying to censor and suppress the anti-establishment music scene. Near the end of the apartheid era, Mango Groove and Juluka were the only major South African music groups with both black and white band-members.
“We weren’t overtly political,” lead singer Claire Johnston said in 2017. “The only song that was, was ‘Another Country’. But we changed the hearts and minds of people in a way politicians cannot.”
Since apartheids’ fall, how have you found the music industry and your progression so far?
The biggest change has been technology, that’s what has changed the industry more than anything – it’s a different world. It used to be that you would sell a lot of records, but now you make most of your money at live shows, selling merchandise.
The beautiful thing is artists have more power – you don’t have to be signed to a huge multi-national record company, which could tie you down for 6 whole years and then decide they don’t want you anymore, yet you are still tied to them. Those days are gone and musicians have much more control. It’s a lovely, but it has taken a lot of adjusting for people of our generation. The whole social media platform is amazing, as you can promote yourself and express yourself more.
Mango Groove were pioneers against the apartheid era – how do feel now that you are on the other side?
I think it’s exciting – I look back and can’t believe that next year (2018), I have been with the band for 33 years. I grew up with the band, I was still in school when i joined the band and only a child. I’m a very proud South African and I’m feeling very excited, especially about where we are headed now – I also find as South African’s we’re getting better at expressing ourselves creatively.
Do you feel that we lost our culture once apartheid ended?
No, I don’t… I think that everything went a bit crazy. What was lovely for us in the early days, was when we released our first album, which had been 4 years coming – we reached everybody instantly. This was because we had a limited amount of radio stations, newspapers and television stations and everyone knew about mango Groove because we were everywhere.
These days it’s difficult to reach everyone, so you will have released a new album and someone who ordinarily would love to buy your music doesn’t know you have released it because they may not be listening to the right radio station, have bought the applications or they’re not online. So it can be rather frustrating from that point of view for musicians and fans. One just needs to find different ways of reaching everyone.
Do you have any last words about performing in Plett on News Years Eve?
Plett has always been good to us – admittedly the last time we were in Plett was 24 years ago, but I’m sure many of those same people are still here. Be they holiday makers, tourists or locals and they have had children and even grandchildren and what we are loving is the outdoor experience, where it is families. We’ve had an amazing interest from young people who are interested in our music and it’s amazing for us that people of all ages still find our music valid.
So to all our fans in Plett – thank you for all your support, cause I know the support is here. Whenever I’ve holidayed here there has always been a high recognition factor and a lot of affection – it’s like coming home after a long break.
Mango Groove Website and Facebook