Afro Café seeks wider audience with a new time slot
|||Munya Vomo
There are a lot of local music shows on TV, but none of them are as authentic as Afro Café. Its very name suggests that it is Afro-centric and the show puts the African music agenda first. With the SABC declaring the 90 percent local music quota, this is the perfect time to zoom in on the show that has been promoting our own talents, when other shows won’t.
Having been hosted by Stoan Seate for a while, the show starts its 12th season in a new timeslot. Leaving the unfortunate 10pm start on Wednesdays and moving to Saturdays at 9pm, it is obvious that Afro Café has gained a lot of traction.
Over the years we have seen several artists who are not taken in by the international sound, promote their proudly African material. These include Maleh, Sibongile Khumalo and Berita. When you listen to their music, you get a sense of belonging and an under-standing of African history and the way of life on the continent.
Seate has been hosting the show for several seasons and it works well for him because he is as authentic as the sound he is trying to push. A former member of the phenomenal South African group, Bongo Maffin, Seate knows a thing or two about African music.
When he was in the group, he carved out his role as the poet and singer which separated him from the other members. He confessed in an interview that he once felt intimidated by his band mates, Jah Seed and Thandiswa Mazwai, who were always greatly inspired when they were writing a song. The pressure saw him write something in Tswana and soon it became a hit. So the anatomy of Bongo Maffin was set; Mazwai enveloped everything with her powerful voice, Jah Seed brought Shona- flavoured reggae chants, while Seate delivered powerful blows with his rhythmic poetry.
With this in mind, it makes sense that he is the host of Afro Café because he understands what it means to be an African musician. He has the right energy for the job and never runs out of questions to ask his guests. It also helps that he is still an active musician and is in touch with what’s going on in the music scene.
The one thing Afro Café might want to improve on is showcasing more musicians from across the continent so that music fans can know what is going on beyond our borders.
“Afro Café, now in its 12th season, is one of our flagship programmes on SABC2. Over the years, viewers have enjoyed the very best in South African music and talent. We believe that the move to the earlier time slot on Saturdays at 9pm will not only yield better audiences and revenues, but offer alternative viewing over the weekend as this slot is dominated by movies. Viewers can catch the repeat on Wednesdays at 10pm,” said Jacqui Hlongwane, SABC2’s programme manager.