Rosette Mogomotsi is everything you’d expect from a supermodel – beautiful, elegant, refined – with one notable exception. She’s no diva. Instead you get humility, warmth, and generosity.
“I get it from my upbringing,” she bubbles. “I was taught to appreciate what I have, and to really love people, so I’ve never really looked down on anyone or felt that I should be bigger than anyone else.
You might expect Fabiani’s brand director to have a tuxedo collection to rival George Clooney’s. You’d be wrong though.
‘To be honest, I don’t have that much clothing. I have really good core basics that I just kind of move around,’ says Arie Fabian, looking dapper in a navy, double-vented, two-button Fabiani suit. ‘Contrary to what most people may assume, I don’t really think about what I’m going to wear. I just put something together because it feels right. I can dress it up, dress it down, mix it up – it makes no difference. For example, I may wear a tux jacket with a T-shirt, jeans and a pair of sandals. It’s a bit of a juxtaposition but I prefer thinking of it in terms of “imperfection is perfection”.’
“It’s pretty crazy at the moment,” says The Script’s drummer, Glenn Power, with just a hint of understatement. In the past month he and bandmates Danny O’Donoghue and Mark Sheehan have been as far afield as Australia, The Philippines, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Simon Le Bon vividly remembers Duran Duran’s last visit to South Africa in 1993.
“We arrived on the day that Chris Hani was shot in his own driveway so it was quite dramatic and very sad,” he says on the line from London. “There was a lot going on. I remember there were big protests and marches all through the streets of Cape Town when we were down there.
“It’s nearly 20 bloody years ago?” laughs a surprised Nick Seymour when I remind him that Crowded House last visited South Africa in 1993.
“I haven’t been there since, so I’m expecting some changes,” reasons the affable bass player on the line from his home in Ireland. “Last time I was in Cape Town I did hook up with some of the locals and went surfing, so when I get back there I’m definitely going to want to get a wave or two. One of the things is being able to say you’ve surfed in South Africa when talking to South Africans here in Ireland or Australia. And one of the benefits of touring is being able to surf internationally.”
Seether are an LA-based band whose last two singles spent close on six months at the top of the US rock charts. Less than 10 years ago they were wannabes from Centurion who couldn’t even win a battle of the bands competition.
Frontman Shaun Morgan Welgemoed is keen to remind local audiences he hasn’t forgotten. From the South African flag (on stage and tattooed on his arm) to name-checking Barney Simon to playing alongside the childhood friend who taught him guitar, their Cape Town show is a wild celebration of their origins.
“Just one beep. That’s all we need,” says Jaco from the front of the Land Cruiser. “Just one beep.”
Standing up, antenna in hand, he surveys the plains around us, hoping for a sign of Sibella. But there’s nothing – just a ground layer of grass and a scattering of trees and shrubs, stretching towards an amphitheatre of mountains.
I’m in Samara – over 28 000 hectares of private game reserve in the Great Karoo, just 55 kilometres from Graaff Reinet. Addo Elephant Park and its endless procession of tourist buses is an hour’s drive to the south, and yet they feel half a world away, surrounded as I am by such silence, such stark beauty.
“Dance music isn’t at its peak at the moment,” Norman Cook says, rather wistfully, from his Brighton beachfront home on the south of England.
“Five years ago it was breaking rules and turning people on who didn’t like dance music – rock bands wanted to get involved, and people were excited.”
“Since then we’ve kind of lost our momentum a little bit. When big beat came around in the ’90s it gave dance music a kick up the arse, with groups like Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers,” adds the man better known as Fatboy Slim.
“I wish politicians would realise that they can change the world if they work together like musicians collaborating, the world would be very different place,” sighs the man who has teamed up with the likes of Dave Matthews, Josh Groban and now Soweto Gospel Choir.
Vusi Mahlasela should know — for the past 30 years, he has embraced political and social messages that celebrate the importance of reaching out to others. Themes of conciliation and forgiveness run through his songs like the proverbial river through the desert.
We’re standing on a beach; fossilised sand dunes towering to the left, the clear water of the Indian Ocean lapping gently on our right. Looking ahead, there’s nothing but pristine white sand and the distant rocky outcrop of Gericke’s Point rising from the ocean spray.
“This,” says Mark Dixon, stretching out his arms, “is my office. And I love it.” Spend just an hour with Dixon and you’ll know that ‘love’ is something of a euphemism, and that the Garden Route is more playground than office.
Nils van der Linden