There's something about the experience of hearing African
rhythms and chants gathered together with soothing vocals on an extensive yet
versatile produced record. The warmth, the impromptu acts of virtuosity and the
electricity that comes with the SING-ALONG afro rooted vocals can move your
soul more than any recorded tune ever could. House music, more especially
AFRO-SOUL, is often criticized as being overtly mechanical or lacking in real
musicianship. Afro House and the tribal forewords paved a platform for most
guys back in the days of Afrodesiamp3. That is why The Heavy Quarterz is a
beautiful and welcome relief to what used to be the culture and lifestyle in
the Underground scene.
The Heavy Quarterz was formed in 2006 by Morra DeRey &
Ntsika M back in Cape Town, South Africa. Morra DeRey, an incredible talented
Eastern Cape raised producer teamed up with Ntsika Madalane to form The Heavy
Quarterz, a versatile soulful and house music band that is blazing a path to
stardom with their power tunes. The Heavy Quarterz was officially
introduced to the world in an album
titled "Tamanini" that was released through Bomba Records and
produced by Morra DeRey. One of their tracks, "Embo" a distinctive
record with groovy-centered rhythms and catchy vocals did pretty great on dance
floors world-wide. The album was a wonderful collections of Afro & African
tribal dance tunes that were engaging both on and off the dance floor.
Songs on introducing The Heavy Quarterz included "Embo,
Ayobaness & Mvuleni" all produced by Morra DeRey & The Heavy
Quarterz.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me a great pleasure to
introduce to you The Heavy Quarterz; The Music, The Joy.
DHLA: Can you tell us more about your backgrounds?
Matsoso: We are actually a group of guys with completely
different backgrounds, I'm Sotho but grew up in the Eastern Cape and that I
hope will explain why most of the songs we sing are written and sang in Xhosa.
Teboho is also Sotho but the Jozi kind of Sotho... He grew up in the Vaal, we
both are self taught producers/vocalists and Deejays.
DHLA: When did you officially become The Heavy Quarterz?
Matsoso: I became part of the crew by sort of a default back
in Cape Town. Two of my friends, Ntsika M & Morra whom I grew up with
already had the group going, but they only were starting and mainly focused on
the Deejaying part and little bit of production, we then decided to add vocals
on the beats that were already, and since the guys knew that I could sing, they
didn't look far for a vocalist... That's how I joined.
Teboho: I joined the group back in 2007, a year later after
its establishment. The minute the guys got to Jozi, we made some arrangements
as Matsoso already knew that I'm into music and he believed in my craft. They
gave me a golden opportunity to be part of the group and I never looked back
since...
DHLA: Where you guys born?
Matsoso: I was born in Jozi, but my parents moved to
Umtata(EC) when I was 2 years old.
Teboho: I was born in Evaton, The Vaal! South side of Jozi.
DHLA: Do you guys have any vocal training?
H.Q: No, we sort of got it from breastmilk! Hahahaha!
DHLA: And who came up with the name The Heavy Quarterz?
H.Q: Morra DeRey came up with the name...
DHLA: How does the song writing process work for you guys?
H.Q: We first discuss the concept of the song on how we want
the vocals to be, then after we put our emotions on paper. We kind of lay a
story to our vocals and song writing.
DHLA: The Heavy Quarterz was signed by Bomba Records that is owned by Mzilikazi Wa Afrika.. And
under Bomba Records, bomba tracks were released.. How was the experience?
H.Q: It was an eye opener to say the least being signed by
Bomba Records and releasing our tracks there... But we really don't wanna go
into details on our time with the label.
DHLA: Is there any particular best highlights, special
releases or moments under Bomba Records?
H.Q: Yeah there is, one in particular was that of the launch
of our album "Tamanini" at a Shisanyama in Sebokeng Zone14. All the
Bomba artist were there and we had a great network session sharing ideas and
advices.
DHLA: Life after Bomba Records showed to be a turning point
for The Heavy Quarterz, what important lessons did the group acquire under Bomba
Records?
H.Q: When we joined Bomba, we were fresh, passionate, hungry
for success and deep in love with what we were doing, we didn't mind anything
just as long as our music would be played out there, we quickly gained
popularity and things picked up immensely. People took notice of us and we
started being featured by top producers, but we soon realized that we were not
getting anything from what was supposed to be our daily job and that's where
passion and talent started to "NOT" be enough and we realized that we
did all the work for nothing... To make this short, Bomba taught us how to
handle record labels and our finances (THE HARD WAY).
DHLA: In 2013, The Heavy Quarterz had a feature on Peng
Africa compilation titled "Spilulu". What was it like working with
the legendary Andy Campton (The Rurals).
H.Q: We never actually had the opportunity to have a one on
one with Andy, we worked mainly with his former partner Mthulisi Patrick.. He
is the one that hooked us up with the deal, so we really don't have any special
intense memories about the guy... Except that we still waiting for what is owed
to us by them... Hahahahaha!
DHLA: After the Peng Africa inserts, The Heavy Quarterz went
on to work with some of the most amazing producers in South Africa, from the
likes of Lele X, Darque, Da Capo, Punk Mbedzi, Gordheaven, Ta Ice &
Infected Soul. The list is endlessly heavy; who would you still love to work
with?
H.Q: We really love Culoe De Song's work, and we really
would love to work with him. Boddhi Satva, Dj Fortee, and vocally, we would
love to work with Kaylow and Inga Hina... Also Zonke Dikane.. Man the list is
endless..
DHLA: Take us through on being mentored by the Great Deejay
Ganyani...
H.Q: The guy is actually the one that gave us the courage to
drop everything in Cape Town and move to Jozi. We met with him on one of his
gigs in Cape Town where we also had been featured; he loved what we were doing
and suggested that we move to Jozi to further pursue our music careers.
DHLA: If you all had not been Deejays/Producers/Vocalist...
You would've been...
Teboho: To be honest, I'd still be doing music, music is my
all time lover. I actually wanted to study Musical Theatre Course but there
were no funds for me to persuade it.
Matsoso: Hahahaha! I think I would've been a priest.
DHLA: In one of our conversations bra Teboho, there was a
mention of having desires to work with some great soulful & Jazz musicians in South Africa from the
likes of Thiwr Mbola, Ncamisa Nqana, Nobantu Vilakazi, Kaylow & Inga Hina.
What has intrigued The Heavy Quarterz into longing to work with these artists?
Teboho: Yeah, as I have said, we would like to work with
those artists; they are one of those few
South African artists who haven't lost
their ancestral touch vocally, but normally we discuss as a group on which
artist we would like to work with, we love and admire their work so much.
DHLA: What have you guys been up to?
H.Q: We have been busy with our album for almost 5 years
now, and we still going to be busy with it until we are satisfied, we don't
want to give the nation a half-backed product, and even if it takes us 10 years
to finish it, so be it. Besides that, we are still working on features and
remixes and also did some work with Dj Tokzen due out in October 2015. In a
nutshell, the future looks great for The Heavy Quarterz.
DHLA: Take us through the new sound...
H.Q: Just like any artist, you have to evolve with times,
and be as diverse as possible, ever since we started focusing on making beats
for ourselves instead of depending on other producers; we came up with our own
sound but with the same soulful vocals that always tell a story. It's more of
vintage with a touch of tech and hard hitting basslines.
DHLA: What was the whole inpiration behind Umculo and
Kofifi?
H.Q: Umculo was merely inspired by our love for music and
the ups and downs we went through pursuing our dreams and the hunger,
determination to make our music journey a success. Kofifi on the other hand, is
just pure jazz, the only reason we made that song was to bring back to life the
golden era of "kwela, Phathaphatha, Chick To Chick and Bum Jive" were
music used to make sense and when people used to rely on music for happiness
and joy.
DHLA: In conclusion, what should we expect from The Heavy
Quarterz? Any future releases? Any interesting up-coming projects?
HQ: As we mentioned above, we are working on our album and
coming down great and sounding excellent so far, we are aiming at featuring new
unsigned talents and working with a lot of session artists, we are also
featured on Sheer Records Mzansi Vs International Compilation coming out in
October and also, we recently secured a 3 Year distribution & publishing
deal by Sheer Sounds... The rest will just come as a surprise to all of you
guys because we don't want to jinx it and let the cat out of the bag yet
hahaha!
DHLA: There you go folks, The Heavy Quarterz; The Music, The
Joy. Thank you for taking to read all our innerviews, we REALLY APPRECIATE IT.
Power to You!
Follow The Heavy Quarterz on:
Twitter: @heavy_quarterz
Facebook: The Heavy Quarterz
Soundcloud: The Heavy Quarterz
For Bookings:
Email: idealkonceptsmedia@gmail.com
Cell: +2778 871 4753/ +27714588879
Twitter: @ideal_koncepts
Here is an Appreciation mix from The Heavy Quarterz:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/tw68zd
Post a Comment