Terri Dunbar-Curran
IT’S been over two years since Joyous Celebration has performed in Cape Town and they are determined to not let their legion of patient fans down when they bring their latest show to the stage at Friend of God Church in Goodwood today at 7.30pm and tomorrow at 2pm.
Joyous Celebration, which is celebrating 20 years, is in town to promote the CD and DVD recorded live at their Moses Mabhida Stadium concert last year. “We had never recorded outdoors before. This was our first time,” explains Jabu Hlongwane. “It was a spectacular event – with guests from as far as Ireland, Russia, France, Tanzania – all over the continent. It started at two in the afternoon and finished at four the next morning.”
Fans can relive that concert with a three-disc CD set, and at Friend of God. “Our fans here have been complaining that we’re ignoring them. But now we are heeding the call and we’re back. We can’t wait to do this thing here in Cape Town.”
In addition to CDs and DVDs, they will have a large range of merchandise for sale, including caps, shirts, power banks and water bottles. Hlongwane explains that on every tour he has people asking to buy their branded clothing, so they’ve taken those requests into account as well.
What can fans expect at this week’s performances? “Fireworks! We give them exactly what they see on the DVD,” says Hlongwane. “Whether it’s the sound, lights or presentation, it’s always 100 percent. Even though we will be doing the music, there is also music from last year that we haven’t performed here yet. So we’ll steal songs from the previous few years as well.”
Mthunzi Namba adds that Joyous Celebration always goes “all out” with lighting and production for their live shows. “It’s not just about singing. It’ll be an out of this world, highly professional, power-packed show.”
Hlongwane notes that they are appreciative of the fact that even after 20 years, they still have such a huge support base. “People have really embraced what we do and it keeps us going. What we enjoy is seeing generations of families coming to our shows. People bringing their kids and grandkids to Joyous.”
He adds that Joyous Celebration is the only production where people will buy tickets to a show with no big names. “It’s the brand, and not the performers,” he says. “people trust the brand top make sure that the unknown performers deliver. People go, and they don’t know who will be singing, or what songs.”
Namba says they have created a platform that introduces and showcases real talent at each new show. “People look forward to finding out who will be singing. They know that these people would have been worked at and properly prepared.”
The team goes into communities across the country searching for new talent. “We train them, develop them and when they are good enough we release them to have their own careers,” says Hlongwane. “When they leave Joyous and establish their own careers we still support them and give them feedback when we go to their shows. We continue supporting them even after they have left.”
Hlongwane is excited to see how African countries have responded to the brand. “Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe – also overseas countries. The surprising one was that most visits online come from India. It just baffles us.”
They are looking forward to their Cape Town performances, especially considering how many of their singers over the years have come from the Mother City. “For many of us, Cape Town is our home away from home,” says Hlongwane.
Joyous Celebration is essentially a team of three which includes Hlongwane, Namba and Lindelani Mkhize. “Everyone else comes and goes. It’s not a group, it’s more of a concept,” explains Hlongwane.
At the moment, the Joyous Celebration team includes about 80 people, and “everybody comes on tour”. That number takes into account management, event planners, the production team, PR people, a social networking unit and catering, as well as the performers themselves.
“It’s been hard work over the past 20 years, but we enjoy what we do,” says Hlongwane. “We started the trend of recording live in this country – particularly in the gospel space. It’s an expensive exercise but it pays off.”
He says that there’s nothing quite as gratifying as an actual performance. “When you’re on stage and you can feel that love, and the connection. All our hard work pays off. Whatever we do, if there’s no audience then it’s a waste of time.”
He encourages fans to arrive early so they can take photos and “have a little chat” with the performers. It’s interactions like that which he feel cement the relationship they build with their fans online and on social media.
Namba says that it’s the ideal way for them to discover how much fans relate to what they do and how it impacts them. “When they give us feedback. They say ‘There was that song and it did this for me’. It shows you how each song can impact people. And the beauty is that the people who attend are from all different walks of life, but they all come together under that umbrella. It’s an experience, not just a show.”
l 0861 915 8000, www.joyous.co.za