Meet KB

KB Motsilanyane grew up surrounded by music with both her parents writing choral music, her mother managing a choir in which her sister was a lead vocalist. After earning her National Diploma in Musical Theatre from Tshwane University of Technology, the young and ambitious Keabetswe became a household name for her role as ‘Kaybee’ in eTV’s Backstage.

In 2001 she played the role of Pointer Sister in the movie Ali (2001) which also featured Will Smith.
Her debut album, ‘Beautiful Vibrations’ was released in 2002 followed by ‘Rock Lefatse’ in 2003.
KB has just released her 6th studio album, four of them earning her accolades in the form of SAMA andf Metro FM awards.
She played the leading role of Phaphama Molefe in the first season of the SABC1 drama series Mtunzini.com, but left the show in 2007 to take up her current role in Rhythm City.

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Brandon October

Brandon October won over the South African public when he appeared on the very first South African Idols show back in 2002. Brandon battled it out with Heinz Winckler right to the end, only to miss out on the title by a fine margin.
His debut solo album, ‘Temptation’, produced by Marcus Brewer, was released in 2003 and was nominated for a SAMA the following year in the Best Pop Album category and spawned three chart-topping singles. Read the full interview…

Beer Blogger: Nick Mulgrew

For a more personal perspective on craft beer culture we sought out beer blogger and general ale enthusiast Nick Mulgrew.
Born in Durbs but currently based in Cape Town, Nick is a fairly new but passionate member of the beer blogging community. His blog Suip, includes reviews of locally and internationally brewed beers, as well as beer-related recipes, products, news and events.

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Roger Goode

Since his initial breakthrough onto the South African music scene in 2001 with his award winning track, ‘In the Beginning’, Roger Goode has continued to evolve. His radio show, The Saturday Surgery continues to rack up new listeners due to his energetic approach to radio and production. On-air, his liveliness and presence is tangible and translates into a private party in each listener’s home.

Roger’s unbridled passion for new sounds means he spends long hours sourcing the latest in hot tracks, breaking down boundaries and seamlessly incorporating multiple musical fields into one fluid, heart racing mix – week after week. Rooted in house music, Roger has been known to branch out into dubstep, drum and base, old school rock, trance and even something popular and typically mainstream. When he’s not entrancing listeners over the airwaves, Roger tours the country extensively, lighting up dancefloors and playing alongside local and international acts across South Africa. Read the full interview…

Pam & Christie of The Arrows

The Arrows were hard at work making toe-tapping tunes long before their hit single ‘Lovesick’ exploded on local radio stations and TV’s. Durban-based musicians Pam de Menezes and Christie Desfontaine released their first EP back in late 2007 and were already making a name for themselves, touring the country with back to back gigs.
Their loyal following simply doubled once more people got a taste of their infectious pop melodies and nowadays, there’s hardly a local stage they haven’t performed on!
Armed with nothing but a drum, a keyboard and a handbag full of devastatingly, honest songs, Pam and Christie continue to the defy the odds as a two-piece powerhouse in the South African musical landscape. Their debut album ‘Make Believe’, released in 2010, has spawned at least three hot radio hits and The Arrows have had successful tours of the USA and Australia.

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Jan Braai

Before 2005, you probably wouldn’t have heard of Jan Scannell, unless you had grown up with him in Stellenbosch.
Jan studied accounting and worked in financial services, but realised that it wasn’t really what he wanted to do. In 2005 he resigned from his job to focus all his energy into building the concept of ‘National Braai Day’.
Hi aim was to have one day where all South Africans could be united around a braai, creating an annual day of celebration in South Africa.
Now celebrated annually on Heritage Day (24 September) National Braai Day is growing every year with more and more South Africans adopting the holiday and choosing to spend it braaing with friends, colleagues, neighbours and even strangers.
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Jon Savage

Jon Savage is a musician,radio DJ and music-addict. He made his name as the frontman of rock band Cassette, who started to make waves locally around 2005 and went on to win their first SAMA in 2007 for ‘Best Rock Album’ for ‘Welcome Back to Earth’.They later racked up 6 more nominations and another win, 2 MTV award nominations, 2 MK Award nominations and 7 Top 40 hits including ‘I don’t like Mondays’ and ‘Who do you trust?’.

Cassette have supported some international artists including Pink, Evanescence, Eagle-Eye Cherry and BLØF. They were the opening act for the 46664 Concert in December 2007.
The band has toured Europe and were the first South African rock band to visit Japan in January 2008.
More recently Jon has been lending his voice and passion for music to a rock show on 5FM every Thursday night, where he plays the best and latest in local and international rock music and interviews the hottest acts.
Cassette are taking a small break right now while Jon puts the finishing touches on his debut solo album to be released soon!

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Serena Chaudhry

Serena Chaudhry is a South African journalist currently based in Baghdad, working as a correspondent for Reuters. Mostly she covers breaking news in politics, investment, oil and economics and sometimes she also covers stories relating to bombings and attacks.
She has worked on major news stories such as the withdrawal of U.S. troops more than eight years after the invasion, major bombings and attacks and the development of Iraq’s vast oil reserves.
Serena got her bachelor of Journalism from Rhodes University before landing her dream job as a Reuters correspondent in South Africa. On home turf she helped shape the equities file with focus on some of the largest banking and insurance firms in Africa, assisted with commodities coverage including the power crisis in Africa’s biggest economy and mining and grains news and was responsible for helping to direct bureau news flow, monitoring local media and covering general news
She has a fascinating family heritage. Serena’s parents were born and brought up in Nairobi, Kenya, and her grandparents were from Pakistan. She was born in London but moved to Johannesburg when she was 10 years old. She later lived in Athens, Greece for a little while too!

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Gareth Cliff

Gareth Cliff needs little introduction. He is a household name and face in many South Africans lives through his daily breakfast show on 5fm and his position as a judge on SA Idols. Gareth started making waves in radio when he got his first post at Radio TUKS in Pretoria in 1998. Later, he moved to 702 Talk and continued to attract attention by being consistently entertaining and opinionated and eventually went on to replace the legendary John Berks on the 702 Breakfast Show in 2001.

5fm listeners first tuned in to Gareth in 2003 and he continues to be the voice most people hear first in the mornings, whether they enjoy it or not! He has won a People’s Choice Crystal Award for Favourite Radio Personality recently as well as Kids Favourite TV Presenter and Favourite Radio Presenter.

Despite being a controversial media character and being reported numerous times to the BCCSA for his comments, Gareth has established a relationship with thousands of listeners and fans who listen closely to his ideas, and to his credit, he often uses his voice for good to promote positive changes in society. His presence on SA Idols from the very first season continues to attract viewers to the show and his comments continue to leave contestants and viewers pondering.

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BANANABOY- by Toyko-Go-Go

Greg Darroll is a 23-year-old Durban-based illustrator & graphic designer, also known as Tokyo-Go-Go. Generally working with vector graphics, he designs clean, colourful, crazy illustrations that get people thinking, laughing or just immersed in detail.
He is fascinated by anything and everything creative, however characters, designer toys, 2D animation and T-shirt illustrations are just a few things that inspire him.
His work has been appeared on posters and flyers, t-shirts, toys and skateboards and has been featured in several art exhibitions.
In May this year, Greg and fellow Durban artist Skullboy hosted their own exhibition, Home Sweet Homies at Gallery 415 in Durban and both again featured in the recent skateboarding-inspired show, called Our Lives of Deckadance.
You can see more of his work here, here and here!

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