Dube The brains behind Iyasa
ZIMBABWE’S multi-award winner, Inkululeko Yabatsha School of Arts
(Iyasa) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and last week
Standardplus asked the group’s founder and director Nkululeko Dube to
shed more light on its fruitful journey.
Below are excerpts of Dube’s (ND) interview with Lesley Moyo (LM).
LM: Can you tell us how you got into the arts industry.
ND: It was a childhood dream. I went to Matshayisikhova Primary School in Luveve and that is where it all began.
I discovered that I had an interest in creative arts, especially the ones that emanated from Africa.
During those days, I fell in love with the likes of Joe Mafela, Mbongeni Ngema and Woza Africa.
I then moved to Mzingwane High School for my secondary education where I joined the drama club.
I experimented with poetry and it happened to be my breakthrough. I was noticed by one lady who was a businesswoman.
She organised a trip to Harare for me to perform and I became popular with my poem, “I speak — Ngiyakhuluma”.
After
that we came together with Babongile Sikhonjwa and Nhlanhla Mpofu and
formed a new dram club at school which became popular in many schools.
LM: After your formal education, did you attend any arts school?
ND: When I was still doing my A’ Levels I had the opportunity to travel to South Africa for an Arts Alive workshop.
I discovered that my role model, Ngema was facilitating at the workshop.
I
learnt a lot of things from him. After high school I went back to South
Africa and enrolled at the School of Committed Artists.
After that I
went to university. I am one of the few people who did university and
college studies concurrently. Besides my Arts Degree I was studying to
be a teacher.
LM: You came into the limelight when you were teaching at Mpopoma High School, tell us about your experiences there?
ND: I took up a teaching post at Mpopoma and like any other school there was a drama club there.
I worked with this drama club but I always wanted to introduce something unique to the performances.
I then approached Ngema and requested to do a video for his hit song, Woza Mayifohloza.
He agreed and we did the video, which was a major success.
During that same period we were honoured to perform at the first gala in honour of the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo.
LM: While still at Mpopoma you generated a lot of controversy, can you shed more light on your experience?
ND: I got mixed up in a lot of controversies but I would not want to dwell on them because they are now behind me.
One of them necessitated my exit from Mpopoma.
I went to Northlea High School briefly before making a bold move to go into arts full time.
LM: Tell us about the birth of Iyasa
ND: Sometime towards the end of 2000 and beginning of 2001, I set up Iyasa.
Most of the members came from the Mpopoma Drama Club, the likes of Sandra Ndebele and Futurelove Madziwa.
Iyasa means sunrise in Ndebele, the group was the birth of a new era in the arts industry.
LM: What distinguished Iyasa from other groups?
ND:
We came up with performances which were unique. We introduced musicals
into our performances but for some time there was a lot of resistance
from our audience.
One other thing that helped us get established is
that we started writing our own songs such as Bum Shibilika, instead of
performing to other people’s songs.
We also got involved in big projects that helped market our group.
We
did a video for one of the late Solomon Skuza’s songs, Banolila,
together with his brother Chase. That video revived the sale of Solomon
Skuza’s music.
We also did a lot of collaborations with established musicians.
We worked with Jeys Marabini Tanga wekwa Sando. In all our performances we emphasised on costumes, energy and expression.
LM: How did you break into the international scene?
ND: In 2001 we were invited to perform at the Zimbabwe Association of Theatre for Children and Young People festival in Harare.
There
were a lot of groups from all over the country. After the festival we
were approached by a guy called Stephan Rable from Austria.
He is
the one who took Iyasa on its first international tour to Vienna for two
weeks. The whole of Austria loved us and after that we went back the
following years.
LM: It has been through such international exposure
that some of your members are now with international productions. Did it
not destabilise your group?
ND: At Iyasa we believe in grooming new talent.
We
are a school and we have to keep producing stars. The likes of Future
and Noma are in Europe and others are in South Africa but are still part
of the group.
Whenever we have international tours we always invite them to participate.
Ndebele who rose through the ranks at Iyasa is now a musician.
We
also believe in promoting individual talent that is why we have
released some of our members to pursue their individual careers.
As you know Future is now an established comedian and Sandra is now an established artist.
LM: What would you say are the major highlights of Iyasa’s existence in the last 10 years?
ND: Creating a group that has become a brand internationally is a major highlight for me.
I
would also say that during the economic hardships that our country went
through we managed to sustain the group and also support the members
financially.
The other highlight is the grooming of some of our members to become household names both locally and internationally.
LM: How about some of your low moments?
ND: We lost a lot of good artists because of the economic situation and we hope we will work with them in the future.
We also lost Cynthia Khumalo to a car accident, this demoralised the team for some time.
The group was also involved in a car accident on the way from Harare and some of our guys were injured.
Sphephiso Makanya was also involved in a car accident last year and we thought she would never perform again.
However, we are glad she is back on stage.
LM: What are your plans for the future?
ND: Our immediate challenge is to create something new.
We have won a lot of awards in the past decade but we now want to take our performances to a whole new level.
We are now looking at getting MTN, Kora and even Grammy Awards.
We also want to create more music which will sell internationally.
We also want to give people at home a taste of what we do internationally.
LM: Are there any events lined up for your 10th anniversary celebrations?
ND: We have already kick-started our celebrations.
We have already toured Swaziland, the first regional country we toured as a group.
We also want to tour every region in Zimbabwe. At the end of October we will be touring South Africa.
In December, we will have our main celebrations in Bulawayo. We are hoping to bring in Mbongeni Ngema and Joe Mafela.
We were also hoping to invite Freshly Ground but because of circumstances that are surrounding them we can’t do that.
During this event we will honour everyone whom we have worked with in the last 10 years.
LM: Besides Arts, what do you do during your spare time?
ND: I am soccer fanatic and I enjoy watching my favourite team, Manchester United.
I also like to spend quality time with friends and my son, Mbongeni whom I named after Mbongeni Ngema.
Source : www.thestandard.co.zw
(Iyasa) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and last week
Standardplus asked the group’s founder and director Nkululeko Dube to
shed more light on its fruitful journey.
Below are excerpts of Dube’s (ND) interview with Lesley Moyo (LM).
LM: Can you tell us how you got into the arts industry.
ND: It was a childhood dream. I went to Matshayisikhova Primary School in Luveve and that is where it all began.
I discovered that I had an interest in creative arts, especially the ones that emanated from Africa.
During those days, I fell in love with the likes of Joe Mafela, Mbongeni Ngema and Woza Africa.
I then moved to Mzingwane High School for my secondary education where I joined the drama club.
I experimented with poetry and it happened to be my breakthrough. I was noticed by one lady who was a businesswoman.
She organised a trip to Harare for me to perform and I became popular with my poem, “I speak — Ngiyakhuluma”.
After
that we came together with Babongile Sikhonjwa and Nhlanhla Mpofu and
formed a new dram club at school which became popular in many schools.
LM: After your formal education, did you attend any arts school?
ND: When I was still doing my A’ Levels I had the opportunity to travel to South Africa for an Arts Alive workshop.
I discovered that my role model, Ngema was facilitating at the workshop.
I
learnt a lot of things from him. After high school I went back to South
Africa and enrolled at the School of Committed Artists.
After that I
went to university. I am one of the few people who did university and
college studies concurrently. Besides my Arts Degree I was studying to
be a teacher.
LM: You came into the limelight when you were teaching at Mpopoma High School, tell us about your experiences there?
ND: I took up a teaching post at Mpopoma and like any other school there was a drama club there.
I worked with this drama club but I always wanted to introduce something unique to the performances.
I then approached Ngema and requested to do a video for his hit song, Woza Mayifohloza.
He agreed and we did the video, which was a major success.
During that same period we were honoured to perform at the first gala in honour of the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo.
LM: While still at Mpopoma you generated a lot of controversy, can you shed more light on your experience?
ND: I got mixed up in a lot of controversies but I would not want to dwell on them because they are now behind me.
One of them necessitated my exit from Mpopoma.
I went to Northlea High School briefly before making a bold move to go into arts full time.
LM: Tell us about the birth of Iyasa
ND: Sometime towards the end of 2000 and beginning of 2001, I set up Iyasa.
Most of the members came from the Mpopoma Drama Club, the likes of Sandra Ndebele and Futurelove Madziwa.
Iyasa means sunrise in Ndebele, the group was the birth of a new era in the arts industry.
LM: What distinguished Iyasa from other groups?
ND:
We came up with performances which were unique. We introduced musicals
into our performances but for some time there was a lot of resistance
from our audience.
One other thing that helped us get established is
that we started writing our own songs such as Bum Shibilika, instead of
performing to other people’s songs.
We also got involved in big projects that helped market our group.
We
did a video for one of the late Solomon Skuza’s songs, Banolila,
together with his brother Chase. That video revived the sale of Solomon
Skuza’s music.
We also did a lot of collaborations with established musicians.
We worked with Jeys Marabini Tanga wekwa Sando. In all our performances we emphasised on costumes, energy and expression.
LM: How did you break into the international scene?
ND: In 2001 we were invited to perform at the Zimbabwe Association of Theatre for Children and Young People festival in Harare.
There
were a lot of groups from all over the country. After the festival we
were approached by a guy called Stephan Rable from Austria.
He is
the one who took Iyasa on its first international tour to Vienna for two
weeks. The whole of Austria loved us and after that we went back the
following years.
LM: It has been through such international exposure
that some of your members are now with international productions. Did it
not destabilise your group?
ND: At Iyasa we believe in grooming new talent.
We
are a school and we have to keep producing stars. The likes of Future
and Noma are in Europe and others are in South Africa but are still part
of the group.
Whenever we have international tours we always invite them to participate.
Ndebele who rose through the ranks at Iyasa is now a musician.
We
also believe in promoting individual talent that is why we have
released some of our members to pursue their individual careers.
As you know Future is now an established comedian and Sandra is now an established artist.
LM: What would you say are the major highlights of Iyasa’s existence in the last 10 years?
ND: Creating a group that has become a brand internationally is a major highlight for me.
I
would also say that during the economic hardships that our country went
through we managed to sustain the group and also support the members
financially.
The other highlight is the grooming of some of our members to become household names both locally and internationally.
LM: How about some of your low moments?
ND: We lost a lot of good artists because of the economic situation and we hope we will work with them in the future.
We also lost Cynthia Khumalo to a car accident, this demoralised the team for some time.
The group was also involved in a car accident on the way from Harare and some of our guys were injured.
Sphephiso Makanya was also involved in a car accident last year and we thought she would never perform again.
However, we are glad she is back on stage.
LM: What are your plans for the future?
ND: Our immediate challenge is to create something new.
We have won a lot of awards in the past decade but we now want to take our performances to a whole new level.
We are now looking at getting MTN, Kora and even Grammy Awards.
We also want to create more music which will sell internationally.
We also want to give people at home a taste of what we do internationally.
LM: Are there any events lined up for your 10th anniversary celebrations?
ND: We have already kick-started our celebrations.
We have already toured Swaziland, the first regional country we toured as a group.
We also want to tour every region in Zimbabwe. At the end of October we will be touring South Africa.
In December, we will have our main celebrations in Bulawayo. We are hoping to bring in Mbongeni Ngema and Joe Mafela.
We were also hoping to invite Freshly Ground but because of circumstances that are surrounding them we can’t do that.
During this event we will honour everyone whom we have worked with in the last 10 years.
LM: Besides Arts, what do you do during your spare time?
ND: I am soccer fanatic and I enjoy watching my favourite team, Manchester United.
I also like to spend quality time with friends and my son, Mbongeni whom I named after Mbongeni Ngema.
Source : www.thestandard.co.zw
