Matongo Family– The ‘Meesters’ of Kasi Music

Matongo Family hit the Namibian music scene like a house on fire during the 1990s, like their hit ‘Manuva’ suggests.

The award-winning group, consisting of childhood friends, Strauss ‘Stravo’ Lunyangwe, Arthur ‘Damara Dik Ding’ /­Nanub and Themba ‘Thembizo’ Matongo, are generally considered to be the pioneers of modern Namibian kasi music.

The group walked away with the best rap award at the NBC Music Makers competition in 1998 and their talent was also recognised with the award for best group at the Sanlam-NBC Music Awards in 2006.

Formed in 1997, Matongo Family was Namibia’s first group of vibrant youngsters: Stravo (11), Damara Dik Ding (19) and the big brother of the group, Thembizo (26), in an era when veteran musicians like Jackson Kaujeua and Peter Joseph Auchab were dominating.

“I was still attending school at the time,” says Stravo. “Damara and Thembizo were already finished with school. Thembizo and I were members of the dance group Trompies, and we were competing in kwaito dance competitions. We were the group to beat at the time,” he recalls.

Thembizo was the choreographer of Trompies, but the dancing world became too congested, with new groups popping up every second day. This prompted him and Stravo to join hands with Damara Dik Ding, who was more into hip-hop music at the time.

Explains Damara Dik Ding: “I suggested the name Matongo (which is Thembizo’s surname) because we wanted to maintain our originality and not go after names of already existing groups. Family was jointly added because that is what we are all about.”

Despite the fact that they haven’t performed together as a group for about 16 years now, the members are appealing to the media to refrain from referring to them as a former group.

During an exclusive interview with The Weekender recently, the members of the group, who are all currently pursuing solo careers, said the spirit of Matongo Family is still very much alive in their hearts.

Explained Stravo: “We are brothers. We are the Matongo Family and we will remain brothers until the end of time. We didn’t meet by accident, we virtually grew up together in the dusty and rocky streets of Wanaheda, where people are not known by their tribe but by their name.”

Noted Damara Dik Ding: “Wanaheda is a location made up of the different tribes of Namibia. There, your immediate neighbour speaks a different language. That is the very same cultural diversity that brought us together. We are one people, we became one big family.”

FEEL THE UNITY

“You can feel the unity we built in Wanaheda in our music. We spoke about the life we lived in our beautiful location. We narrated the good, the bad and the ugly about the life of a black boy in Katutura in particular, and Namibia in general,” said Thembizo.

Matongo Family have two albums to their name – ‘Meesters’ and ‘Sunrise’, which both received fantastic reviews from the public and catapulted the group’s popularity with music lovers (both young and old) countrywide.

The group mesmerised fans and took the country by storm with their unique thumping sound, which was complemented by hard-hitting lyrics, both sung and rapped in different local languages, including slang, which became their trademark.

Matongo Family gifted to Namibia evergreen monster hits like ‘Manuva’, ‘Zemu Zuwe’ featuring Big Ben, ‘Koes’ featuring Zanele, ‘Subu A’ and ‘Skatebol’ featuring Pepi and ‘Makiti’.

These smash hits became street anthems which still enjoy relevance today, especially at parties.

“Our music is all about having fun and being happy. We were well ahead of time, that is why a Matongo Family song is still making people dance today. We were just three young boys having fun in a naughty way. We represented kasi fun,” said Thembizo.

The group appointed local music guru and radio personality Andre Gariseb as their first manager. Gariseb was just too eager to talk about his association with the group.

“I vividly remember that day when I was approached by the three young men to manage their affairs. It is not like I didn’t know them before because I was already assisting them with the drafting of contracts. It was shortly after they won the NBC Music Makers award,” Gariseb recalled.

“Contrary to popular belief, I will tell you today that managing the Matongo Family was my easiest managerial job. It was really fun working with the trio. There was excitement. It was fun keeping the group abreast with other artists. We achieved all the goals we set.”

Gariseb said the most challenging part of managing the group was keeping the women away from the boys. He remembers how difficult it was to handle the groupies as he tried to help the group stay focused on achieving their mission, which was to blow the Namibian music scene up.

Anyone who attended a Matongo Family show will attest to the energy on display, and it was an unwritten rule that the main act, when Matongo Family were a supporting act at a live show, wouldn’t dare take to the stage immediately after the trio, to avoid the risk of being upstaged. The group members, who are in agreement that they received their best support in the city, highlighted that they also drew sell-out crowds at Keetmanshoop and Katima Mulilo, and were equally well-received at Ongwediva.

“There was this one specific show at Katima,” Stravo laughingly remembered. “Where we were summoned back on stage after a high-voltage performance. Just imagine, you just shed your last drop of energy because you wanted to leave a lasting impression, only to be called back on stage.

“Not only for one or two songs but to redo the entire repertoire. The crowd closed the doors of the venue and threatened violence and we didn’t have a choice but to comply. I must say it was very tiring on the one hand, but again, everybody went home satisfied afterwards.”

Matongo Family are happy and say they feel deeply honoured to have been accorded the opportunity to make a contribution to the Namibian entertainment scene.

As a way of showing their appreciation to their fans, they promise not to rule out the possibility of dropping another album very soon, while not committing to a specific time frame.

Meanwhile, Namibian music fans will keep their fingers crossed in the hopes of seeing the Matongo Family performing together as a group once again, like in yesterday already!