Mi Casa (Soul Candi) climbing South African Charts

The story goes a little something like this… Dr.Duda was invited to play at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sandton for a Soul Candi event called, , “La Dolce Vita.” Mo-T was asked to freestyle over his set on the day. J-something was at the party and asked if he could plug in a microphone and sing over the beats too. Until that jamming session, these three musicians had never met.

“Then halfway through the set i started singing “Smooth Operator”and shocked the audience! Soul Candi was there and approached us straight after the performance and asked us to form a group, and voila! Mi Casa was born” J-something talks about the new band that is making its way onto South Africa’s charts.

Who would you say your target audience is? Your sound is soulful, yet you open for house bands…

We have been so blessed at EVERY gig. And we have had different crowds. I think we have played to most types of crowds now and its been amazing. Our target audience? Man thats a tough question. Yes, we doing soulful house but we have the jazzy element in it too. Its very hard to define a target audience. We here for people who appreciate music and like to dance and love.

What are each of your personal career goals, individually and as a band?

We like setting small goals and then moving on to the next one. We had a goal of playing with our live 6 piece band and we did it. We then had a goal of reaching a certain amount of sales and hit it. We then had goals to get our single, “These Streets” onto the charts and its being charting on Metro FM, YFM, 5FM, and many others. Now we have goals of being nominated for Metro FM awards, Channel O Awards, SAMA Awards. I have some personal goals within Mi Casa, and thats for us to reach a certain status with our CD sales, to really blow people away with every performance, to try new things and keep things fresh as a band, and to work with some great names in this beautiful industry we are in.

Dr.Duda has a goal to increase his musical talent. He is all about the studio and the music. Always with an instrument in his hand. Mo-T is a very focused guy. His goals are for the CD to do well in stores, to grow the brand ‘Mi Casa’ to become a strong and recognised brand in several fronts, and to continue growing as a trumpeter.

La Vida (Album Version) by Mi Casa Music

I have a very funk/neo soul background listening to the likes of Michael Jackson, Musiq Soulchild, and Anthony Hamilton growing up. Dr.Duda is very influenced by gospel music, and Mo-T is a jazz man. We got into studio, Duda played keys, Mo-T was on the trumpet and i had my notebook and began freestyling and picked up different melodies here and there and began writing. That was the process for most songs.

You have an upcoming tour called MI CASA SU KASI… My House Your Township. Can you tell us more?

We are so excited for this. Our 1st tour that is ours. Its got a lot to do with our 1st single ‘These Streets.’ We want to connect with people on the tour. We want to be on the streets, or at least as close to them as possible. The tour concept is 9 parties in 9 townships. We are going to places like Alexandra, Soweto, the Vaal, Mamelodi, and many more. We have some amazing acts joining us along the tour and also people can expect a different party.

Check them out next at The Spring Fiesta 24 September 2011.

For more info – Follow Them On Facebook

INTERVIEW: Shana Genever