MI CASA INTERVIEW

YV: A lot of people would like to know who is Micasa? Micasa: Well a lot of people get it wrong and think the white guy is Micasa while it’s not  I’m not Micasa,  my name is J-something. I’m just a singer songwriter. Micasa is a team. We have Mo-t who is a trumpet and “udokotela” Dr Dudo, who is the dj and producer so it’s a trio. A three piece house live band we not dj’s

YV:How did the name MiCasa come about? Micasa(Mo-t): It was J who came up with the name Micasa and the meaning of the name is My House. So Micasa su casa means my house is your house. J-something: we wanted to create a group were people didn’t see as some high shot celebrity they couldn’t  interact with,  we very down to earth guys, I am a human being just as you are. I’m not some superman neither does the other guys so we are what you are. We want u to feel that this group is your group as much as its mine like the name Micasa su casa says.

YV: When did you guys meet and how long have you been together?

Micasa: We met at a part in Sandton I was called by my brother to come and play with Dr Duda and J-something joined us on the stage, we started performing a track by Sade smooth operator. The crowed received us well and then, that’s when we decided to do this. We were approached to have a CD done.  But we all had our own careers so we were not interested in having a CD. We met in 2010 but we only left it until last year March 2011, when we decided to go into studio and made the album which was realised in July and until then it has been great. The other thing is we never really knew each other as I’ve said we met in 2010, people always think we have known each other or went to school together.

YV: Your music, do you categories it as deep house?

Micasa: No we actually a soulful house group, the is so much all over mix I (Mo-T) came with jazz background with my trumpet, duda is from a gospel background and J with a soulful background because he listens to a lot of soul we have all been inspired by some type of music each of us and bringing all that together just made Micasa like that. So we would say we are a soulful house act and a live band.

YV: Your sound is very unique, how long did it take to prepare the album?

Micasa: We actually took three months to put the whole album together, but how the album was prepared we would probably take an entire week to do one song. We took time to listen to different styles of music because sometimes when you listen to too much to yourself, you tend to think your sound is different, whereas you not. So you need to listen to others styles of music and let others hear your style.

YV: How did the song La Vida come about?

Micasa: The song is Portuguese La Vida and it means life. The whole song says love is so beautiful it makes you want to cry. It’s sort of like a very settle love story about a guy wanting to show a girl how beautiful life is. It’s not necessarily like I love you but more like come and see how beautiful these world is, so it’s a cool song.

YV: Who did you work with on the album?

Micasa: We did everything ourselves, the three of us plus Mike Mohale who is the co-producer of the group as well as our sound engineer. We also had some session players that came in, so we did the album 70 to 75% live. It’s not programmed a lot its more live instruments.

YV: Was it difficult to get in the music industry?

Micasa: It’s something that realistically is a difficult industry to get into, but we were blessed with our entrance. Like we were saying when we started not one us had this idea of forming a group, we were all individuals. So it was just luck that we were at the same place, same time in front of the right people and we performed a right song, without even knowing each other and a group happened. So when we look back and see the album has gone gold, then platinum and won SAMAS, it’s sought of like a confirmation from God saying “you know what this is my plan”. It’s as if the is some other hand controlling everything, so we feel very blessed and humble for the support.

YV: You won Record of the Year award, voted for by fans, the Duo/Group of the Year and Best Dance Album awards. Were you expecting to win an award?

Micasa: The whole SAMA experience was amazing, being amongst all these people that as a kid you looked up to like Kabelo, Jabba, all the other guys and being put up against other artist like Zahara, an amazing woman. But for us the biggest thing at the SAMAS was sitting there and when our name was mentioned for anything people respond the loudest to our name. That showed that we had support and true fans that love the music. So the record of the year award was the biggest to win and is the biggest award at the SAMAS. The great thing is that it’s based on votes from the public. So it was an experience we will never forget.

YV: So how do guys stay grounded and humble in the industry?

Micasa: It goes back to the fact that without our fans we are nothing. Without the media, people that are helping us get out there we are nothing. So when you start realising that you are something because of others, that’s when you realise that you only brought a little bit to the plate. Everyone else is helping us get out there. So you always need to be thankful for everyone that’s in your life.

YV:If you were to collaborate with any local or international artist who will it be?

Micasa: The are so many people locally like when you look at Zonke, HHp, Black Coffee, Black Motion you go Dj shimzo from Tembisa they all great talents. Internationally we got some cool ideas that we working we big fans of Tortured Soul and we would love to do something with them.

YV:If you had the opportunity to change something about the music industry what would it be?

Micasa: Would say piracy, it’s not great but it’s something that I don’t think we would be able to change, if we could it will be amazing. And from promoters, clubs and events people just a little more respect towards the musicians, they are entertainers and should be respected for their arts. But we love music, we love the South African music industry, it’s so beautiful and the caliber of artist we have is endless it’s beautiful.

YV: When you look at the digital landscape like iTunes in the US, do feel that more could be done to encourage better distribution of music that will benefit musicians?

Micasa: I think that’s where everything is going; digital is going to take over one day. It’s also a good way of spreading music because it will be all over the world. So if it’s on digital it will be easy to access.

YV: We have a question from our facebook page: someone asks what made you guys choose music as a career?

Micasa: First of all the three of us we love music, this has always been our dream and that’s the first thing that brought us together as Micasa. I (J-something) as a kid have always been told that do what you love no matter what, if that’s your passion then go for it. As youth and inspiring musicians if your dream is doing music then go for it put everything you have and follow your dream. God has placed dreams inside everyone so that you can wake up with a smile every day.

YV: On the lighter side, what do you guys do for fun?

Micasa: Well most of the times we working, doing interviews but because we love it, it doesn’t feel like work, it feels like we having fun. But we enjoy playing playstation, tv, reading, hang out with each other go ‘chisanyama’. So the is always something to do.

YV: One of the dreaded question are you guys dating?

Micasa: We like to keep our private life private. People already know a lot more about our lives, so private life is important. You need to keep your family private.

YV: We try to use the platform to develop young people, what are some of the challenges you think young people are facing?

Micasa: Think a lot of them don’t know themselves and are trying to be something they not. The sad things will be drug abuse, not going to school anymore and it’s bad. People leave God as the last thing and don’t respect their parents, so they need to respect their parents from the time they here to the time they leave. You need to understand yourself worth and be humble because you have a purpose in life.

YV: You guys have a signature sound, so are you going to continue with that sound?

Micasa: I would take my hat off to anyone that can give me a description of our sound, I don’t even know. It becomes a problem when people recognise you for one thing like for example Durban house. I don’t know what house we are, we soulful house that’s what we do but the is samba, there’s American gospel. So we just going to carry on doing what we do making our music, we don’t want to be bound by anything we just want to rock.

YV: So when can we expect the next album?

Micasa: Beginning of next year, 2013 we going to come up with another album. We very excited even went back to studio, but don’t have a title yet so we will see what happens.