IN YOUR EAR
Thebe Mabanga
One of the most versatile personalities on radio is Yfm’s Rudeboy Paul Mnisi. He has been with the station since its inception in 1997 and has built his weekday evening show, The Groove Kamikaze, into a colourful radio experience.
What’s more, he does not seem to believe that he has arrived. “I have a passion for what I do. I take time and pride in developing it and would like to continue to grow.”
Mnisi’s path to radio stardom started in TV. In 1995 as a presenter for a youth environment programme Eco Vision, he became a religious listener to the former 5fm motormouth Tich Mataz.
“Between seven and 10 in the evening I would be locked up inside the house just listening to Tich. His technique was just amazing,” he says of his affinity for the now-deported radio star.
After taking lessons from Mataz, he responded to an opportunity to become a presenter for Voice of Soweto. “When I started out I was told that, since I am not a Sowetan, I might not know the audience too well,” he says of the reminder of his Kathlehong roots.
He eventually won over the doubting crowd before he got an opportunity to be part of a new regional youth station.
To come up with a name for his show he looked to his favourite subject, history. “I was always fascinated by the Japanese kamikaze pilots,” he says, even after World Trade Centre attacks. “I named the show after them because the idea just captures the way in which I just crash land into my audience.”
The first big challenge he had to overcome was to be a talk show host when he was given the responsibility to anchor Youth Crossfire. “At first I thought the idea was crazy.”
Once, in the early days, he had to handle a show on celebrity culture. Among his guests were Lebo Mathosa and 5fm’s Mark Gillman. The show degenerated into a promotional interview with Mathosa, with listener after listener calling to compliment her on her work and Gillman being left completely isolated by an audience that probably did not know him, let alone celebrate him.
This year, at the racism conference in Durban, Mnisi interviewed Harry Belafonte. There were no nerves or sense of being overawed; the vast improvement of his interviewing skills was on display.
The next phase of growth for The Groove Kamikaze came with the introduction of the Rap Activity Jam to serve as a platform for aspiring MCs. Over the years it has attracted street poets who range from the vaguely talented to the mediocre, distasteful and purely vulgar.
Mnisi has now taken his love for poetry to a different level by introducing Word of Mouth, a poetry session for slam, dub and raw poetry. “I actually had to put together a demo tape to convince management that the concept can work,” he recalls. It aired six months ago and the number crunchers are now reasonably quiet.
Mnisi’s love for music extends beyond radio.
This year he has ventured into being a live performer. “It is so overwhelming to be among artists,” he says of his desire to use the turntable as a musical instrument. The signs so far are impressive.
First, he teamed up with musicians Moses Khumalo, drummer Efrain Toro and sensual vocalist Nana in the Politburo sessions. A slightly altered line-up of the Politburo recently blew up a small storm at Oppikoppi.
During Arts Alive he teamed up with poet Kgafela oa Magogodi, guitarists George Phiri and Concorde Nkabinde, and drummer Tlale Makhene. “I like Kgafela for his ability to move from deep to street level with ease,” Mnisi says.
Does he agree with the poet’s radical perspective denouncing religion and graphic lyrical expression? “I think I agree because we are a generation of explorers and we have to question things.” His contribution varied from offering a slide bass beat to playing percussion. “I am actually learning all the time. Right now I am also learning to play the djembe drum”.
Of course his radio show is not all talk and poetry. It has a playful feature called Boy call Girl. The slot involves young people all over Gauteng calling their loved ones to have an intimate conversation before being alerted about being on air.
No wonder they call him Rudeboy.