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Of all the gifts Africa has given the world – coffee, mathematics, the concept of language – perhaps the greatest is music. Music was born in Africa and is born in us all, transmitting its call and response across the waves and generations.
For Katlego Maboe, that call was loud enough to be heard over the money-talking clamour of his chosen profession: accountancy. So he flipped a coin and switched careers, to become one of South Africa’s most popular singers and television presenters.
As a member of the acapella group, Flip a Coin, he has enthralled audiences on Idols and the Huisgenoot Skouspel, and his portfolio as an engaging, multilingual TV presenter ranges from 50/50 to Strictly Come Dancing to the SABC3 magazine show, Expresso.
Born in Potchefstroom, where he also went to university, Katlego is proof that following your dream can pay off, particularly if you’ve got the voice and the personality to make sweet music. Katlego sat down with Ruda to chat about family values, chance encounters, the power of change, and the infinite possibilities of tomorrow.
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Change Exchange. Our guest today, Katlego Maboe, we’re so happy to have you here.
I’m lucky to say the tables have turned! It’s good to be here, thank you very much for inviting me.
Ja, we’re going to have fun in the next half hour or so.
I’m looking forward to it.
You discovered you could sing because your grandmother forgot you at school?
That’s exactly how it happened. Even at that moment I didn’t know that I could sing, because I was at school, having just finished my homework and saw a bunch of kids streaming into the school hall for the choir auditions that I didn’t know, but I followed out of curiosity as a cat does.
How old were you?
I was in grade 5, my second year at Potch Central School. And so I went in and we got given papers, we had to write our names down, and the teacher was there playing music notes on the piano and then asking us to write down how many notes we could hear. It was a hearing test to establish how many notes you could hear or not. And to my surprise, I wasn’t tone deaf and then started singing as a first soprano in the choir, that was … yes! And …
You were about eight years old?
Yes, exactly. And that was many, many moons ago and I enjoyed music and it’s been such an important part of my life since.
How did Flip a Coin come about?
Flip a Coin was started by a group of guys at Veritas Manskoshuis on the PUK Campus of the Northwest University, and in my second year at varsity I went to the residence and they approached me and asked me if I was interested to be part of this group, because they were starting this new, kind of fresh flavour of a cappella music and they had seen me performing the previous year for a men’s residence called Heimat, and in this performance I beat boxed …
What’s that?
Beat boxing is when you use your mouth to make percussive sounds. Like: [he beat boxes some sounds]. So I did a little bit of that and they thought they would like to integrate this into their repertoire and what they do to kind of give the group a new flavour, and that’s how I made it into the group and that’s exactly what resulted in where I am now, because of a result of Flip a Coin I got to go to things like the KKNK, to all kinds of music festivals like Aardklop and we made a name for ourselves and that’s how I got into contact with the very person that got me to my first TV audition.
But you were studying BCom? You were on your way to become a very serious businessperson?
I think I look rather serious in my suit? Ja, that was the plan. I was going to be a partner at some audit firm, drive a Seven Series, wear Armani suits every day, and I guess it wasn’t so much my dream so much as it was my mom’s dream – she wanted me to have a really solid career behind me and I guess being an accountant, which was what I was good at high school, is something that she thought might be a good option, but my heart and passion have always been in music and I would have changed the Seven Series for a slightly smaller car to be able to perform on stage one day.
Ja, so can you remember that decision?
I can, yes. It was actually registration day, and I was standing in …
First year?
First year, yes. And I was standing in what they call Lover’s Lane on the PUK campus …
Yes, it’s beautiful with trees …
Exactly, and I remember this row of kids all excited and waiting because they all seemed so sure of what they wanted to do and I was standing with my mom and I either had to go the one way … it was like a crossroads, literally! The one way where I go and register at the economic department, or I could go down the road to the music department and register, because I had been recruited for both degrees. And, I think I just made a decision at the time to respect my mom’s wishes that she’s worked very, very hard to get me to where I am, and I guess the last gift I can give to her is to get this degree and afterwards, hopefully, God-willing, my path would still find its way back to music. And it always has, without me necessarily willing it that way.
And how does your mother feel about what you’re doing now?
Oh she loves it! Mom’s like one of my biggest fans – she wakes up every single day to watch Expresso, to watch every performance, in fact. If she doesn’t see on the show she gets worried and starts calling the office to find out where I am. But in the beginning I understand why it was scary for her, because she wasn’t sure what the world of entertainment would present to me.
And it isn’t as secure.
No, really. It really isn’t. And she’d see many careers that went up in flames and she didn’t want me to be one of those. And so I could completely understand, but I do know now that she knows that I can take care of myself – I’ve got a plan in mind that I’m working towards, so that’s good.
So tell me about the interaction with the person who gave you your first audition?
Oh, okay. It’s Johrné van Huyssteen …
From Ddisselblom?
He was the MC at the Huisgenoot-tent at KKNK. And we were performing at that very stage. And afterwards he pulled me to the side from the group and he said to me: “Listen, are you interested in doing television?” And I thought to myself I’ve always wished I was one of those kids on YOTV that just rock up and go crazy and people like enjoy what you do, and at the time De Kat Magazine was planning on starting off their own TV show on SABC3, and so he told me the details of the audition and I thought why not. So I got into a taxi and drove all the way to Johannesburg – I’ve never, ever done that before in my life. Called a couple of friends to help me manoeuvre the streets to find my destination for my audition, and low and behold, there I was sitting in front of Leon Van Nierop and I had no idea who he was, though. But the funny thing is that I had two scenarios to prepare – I was either going to interview him as a film critic, or as himself. And I’d done the research on both because I didn’t know whether they’d ask me on the spot to do the one, or the other, or both. And I just hadn’t read the details in the email that said just choose one, so I stressed myself into a corner because: “Oh my gosh, what if I’ve got to do both interviews and they’re so long?” And it went down smoothly, and a couple of weeks later I got the call that I had gotten the job on De Kat TV and I was going to be on SABC on Friday evening at seven o’clock – it’s primetime TV.
In Afrikaans?
In Afrikaans. And that’s how it all started, and after that came 50/50 …
But wait! What did it feel like? And did you know then that this would be a career? Or did you think this is a one-off gig and this is quite fun and it will be over by next week?
I think at the time I was more worried about how I would get to Johannesburg in a taxi every week to go to film links and do these shoots. And just the excitement of being in front of a camera was what fulfilled me and what I loved. The interesting stories … We went to a small town in the Northern Cape, and we met these steel smiths that made Damascus Steel knives, which was the most fascinating story. I don’t know … you probably do know Damascus Steel that gets folded and over and over again and afterwards, when the metal is polished, different textures come out of the metal and so no knife is the same as the other, and they were telling me the story … It was at this old house at a farm, and so it was those stories that I got the chance to involve myself in and become a part of these people’s lives for a short period of time, and that really fascinated me and I wondered: “Wow, how many more interesting stories like these are there out there in the world? And I really like doing this and I like telling those stories. I like asking those penetrative questions that make people talk about their past and their lives.” And, you know …
It’s not the questions – it’s the listening.
It’s the listening, yes, that leads to the next question. Exactly!
So you actually almost crossed over into journalism?
Yes. Without even knowing it.
Because that’s not just presenting. That is getting into the content of the story, getting into the other person’s world – that’s journalism.
Exactly. And so I find myself completely fascinated by this world and I think it’s only once I got my second job in TV, on 50/50, that I really potentially saw this as a career. Because how it came about is that one of the producers that I had worked with on a story on De Kat was a producer for 50/50. And so when the chance came about for them to take Veldfokus and give it a bit of a revamp and a new, fresh look, he went to Clive Morris who is the producer – the executive producer of 50/50, and said: “Give this kid a chance. He’s got some great energy about him.” And so when I got the gig, I was like: “Wow, this is my first time working with autocue, this is amazing. I could actually do something with this. If I really work hard and I practice and I become good at this, it could be a career.
But you have something on your CV that makes you very welcome in the Afrikaans community – you are a black person who speaks Afrikaans like me … How did that happen? Because there are … it’s … the pool is small. So it does make you stand out?
I find that to be lesser and lesser true these days.
Really?
Ja, a lot of young black kids are not just fluent in English or Afrikaans, but also all kinds of other languages.
What do you speak?
I speak Setswana, my home language, English, Afrikaans, a little bit of Xhosa, a bit of Zulu … If you speak Setswana, they’re very related to Sesotho and Sepedi as well, so I can handle a conversation there. And I’m working on a little bit of German. “Ja, Ich kanst ein kleine bisschen Deutch sprechen.”
Is she pretty?
I actually watched a movie yesterday where one of the lines is: “I know a little German. And he’s standing right over there!” But that’s a conversation for another day. But how this came about is that my uncle built my grandparents’ house in Potchefstroom. And, I guess, in the environment that he was working in and also at the time, Afrikaans was very much the used language. And so I would constantly hear him asking, or my grandparents asking how many bricks are we going to need to build this. Hoeveel sakke sement, en so aan. And he always used this word: Omtrent. And that fascinated me. Omtrent. What is that? In fact, that was the very first Afrikaans word that I learned how to use, although it may be out of context. And my grandparents always used to skinder (gossip) about me behind my back, and when they did, they would then speak in Afrikaans, which made me wonder. Because I would always see that they’re looking at me while saying this thing, and I would want to know. I want to know! And so I started watching shows like Mina Moo, and Dawie die Kabouter, and Brakkenjan, and Lucky Luke. And I first actually learned to sing the songs before I could understand what they meant. And I practiced to execute that accent. “Ek is Da-ha-wie!” I’d listen and then I would say it exactly like that. And when I got the chance to be part of the Northwest Children’s Choir, I was in an environment immediately where I would have to go to choir practice every Friday and I was surrounded by at least 90% of the kids in the choir were all Afrikaans speaking. So in order to make some kind of friends and to really enjoy the experience of being in the choir, I had to learn to speak the language. And so I did, and it worked out very well for me, because it meant that I was very, very welcome, like you say, into the Afrikaans communities, I would then understand the value of saying: “Goeiemôre Tannie en Oom.” And not just: “Hei jy!”
Ja, so you also pick up something of the culture. But the other indigenous languages? You were surrounded by that where you were growing up?
I guess not really, because Potchefstroom, it being a North West province town, is very much saturated by Setswana, so I had to venture out on my journeys to try and find other pieces of culture through language that I had a chance to explore. So whenever we’d go on a choir tour, I would try and see if I could learn something of that place. When we went to Mauritius I tried to pick up some French … It never worked out, really, but it’s always been about that cultural exchange and the value that you get to learn about people’s history, about what they believe in when you can speak their language.
And getting back to your musical career. How far did Flip a Coin go?
Flip a Coin went far.
Well it’s all over YouTube.
It is all over YouTube, but oh, goodness, we were doing so well I really believe that if we had all focused on the same dream and we all as a group wanted the same thing, we really could have been big. I mean, if you look at the likes of The Soil, right now, that had been invited to perform at the Apollo Theatre in New York, and the likes of the Pentatonics that are now a world sensation. There’s movies like Pitch Perfect that are being made all about a cappella. And at the time we were doing it there was only us, Flip a Coin, Navi Redd and another group that I can’t remember. But were the frontrunners of South African a cappella and the sêr culture at universities were also starting to become very popular and being part of the sêr team was almost as good as being … you know, a scrumhalf or a fly half in the first rugby team. It was that popular. So how far did it go? I think we got to a level where we were very well known all across the country and it helped very much when I started in TV – I was kind-of a well-known face, especially in the Afrikaans community, because you think of all the festivals that we went to – those were predominantly attended by Afrikaans people. But ja, always in my mind I will say we never went far enough. We could have gone so much further.
Ja, because you were young men and each one had his own dream, and went off on his own trip?
Exactly! We performed in front of Presidents and Sheikhs and we were doing really, really well at the time.
And now, you’re incredibly busy … How do you balance it out and find time for a personal life?
I don’t! I’m very much obsessed with my career and my work, I think because I enjoy it so much it never really feels like work whenever I’m doing it. But I do try and find some space just to … kind of not do anything if I feel like it – maybe take a walk up Table Mountain every now and then, but it doesn’t occur.
Do you plan? Do you have a five year plan? Or do you just – there’s a door open and “okay, I’ll go through” …
I’ve got my picture of where I want to be in five years, and I’ve started putting a team together in terms of, you know, agent, PR, marketing manager and people that are helping me to not only have those dreams in here, but put them down on paper and actually start working towards them on a daily basis, so that definitely is in the works.
So, may I ask what the dreams are? What the dream is?
If I can be a mixture of Michael Buble, Josh Groban, Ellen Degeneres, Ryan Seacrest all in one … To be able to work in two time zones like Ryan Seacrest and do all of those things, perform on stages and be a great broadcaster, bring entertainment and mirth and you know, good positive energy that can contribute to this world being a better place than what I had found it in, then I think I would have done well. President? I don’t know.
Give yourself time. Another decade or so.
I need a couple grey hairs before that happens.
And your family, Katlego? Your relationship with your grandmother, your mum?
It’s wonderful. They are my rock – especially in an industry where things could fall apart very easily, you need some kind of solidity and somewhere that you can hold on to when you’re feeling a little bit rocky, and that’s where my grandparents and my sister and mom all play quite a crucial role. Mom is one of the only people that when things are really going crazy around me, I can give her a call and she’ll tell me that it will be okay. And I believe it! For some reason, like a little boy I still believe whatever she says. Ja, they’re very important to me.
And do they sometimes look at you and say: “Don’t pull the star act!”
Never that! I think they want me to! As the first generation in my entire family to have gone to the first Model C school, to speak English and Afrikaans and to be doing this … Sometimes I think they’re enjoying this more than I do! My grandmother has turned into a little bit of a celebrity in church on Sundays – after church she’s more excited about telling everyone about what happened on Expresso during the week than about the sermon. But I love that they’re enjoying it as well – it makes it extra, doubly fun, the fact that they’re enjoying it as much as I am.
And what do you look for in a partner?
Whoa! That escalated quite quickly! What do I look for in a partner?
You’re surrounded by women you love, and who love you?
I think, essentially somebody with a personality and the strength of my mom. She’s gone through a great deal and still maintained sanity and humanity and love and positivity to give that over to me. So I think it could be someone who could do that for me. And could cook a Sunday lunch like she does!
Oh!
Touch job, ladies. Tough job! But I think somebody whom I could just feel will help me to hold the family together, that together we could be a great team.
And do you see yourself as a dad?
Very much. Rugby games, soccer games, ballet, choir recitals … Everything!
There’s a vacancy here, girls!
Whoa, ladies! Not right now – give me a couple of years.
Is it a bit crazy at the moment?
Ja, and I take love very seriously as well, so I would need to completely be focused. But that’s the kind of person I look for.
And your home, you live in Cape Town now?
K: In Sea Point, ja. Beautiful.
What makes a home?
What makes a home for me is food. Whenever I recall some of my best memories growing up, it’s always connected to food, sometimes or someway. Whenever I would visit my mom, I’d always remember the Sunday lunches that she cooks. Because I would walk in from church and the house would just be smelling great. And when I think of back home in Potchefstroom where I grew up with my grandparents, where they raised me, I remember evenings where we would cook corn and the whole kitchen would smell like corn. Or my mom or my grandma would make samp and beans – one of my favorites – so ladies, take note. So I think great food makes a home for me.
So is there something physical that you put in a new space which makes it yours?
Since getting it, my guitar. It’s the one piece that I’ve carried with me wherever I’ve moved.
How long have you, have you always played?
No, not always, unfortunately. If I had the chance to have picked it up early I would have, but a friend of mine who now lives in Brazil had bought this guitar as just like a hobby, but it’s a really great guitar – it’s an Ebenezer art wood, lovely. And when he got married and was moving to Brazil, he knew how much I loved that guitar. And so he kind of sold it to me, but rather gave it to me as a gift.
How long ago was this?
This was in my first year.
Okay.
And I guess when I moved home for the very first time, because I have been living all my life with my grandparents, and when I went to res, that was the first thing that I had with me. Like, this was my home and I’d …
Yes, I claim this space.
Exactly, wherever it is, is where I am. It’s still a very, very precious thing to me.
Well we look forward to the first album, written and performed, and …
Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Ja, and we will be in the front row of your admirers.
I hope so.
Good luck.
Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity.
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