Hi everyone, and welcome to episode three of this new season of Tales From A Very Minor Celebrity, a delve into my audio archive and a look back at some of my very favourite interviews from my career in radio and TV…. I hope you will like them as much as I did recording them.
This week you’ll hear an interview I did with a young lady called Tandile. She was performing with a South African group of musicians called the Michael House Big Band, 22 musicians travelling from the KwaZulu-Natal area of South Africa as a part of a 15-date tour of England and Wales back in 2007.
A fairly interesting story but it got a lot more interesting when I discovered that Tandile’s surname was Mandela, yes a granddaughter of Nelson Mandela
She was to be the special guest with the Michael House Big band and as you’ll hear a very accomplished musician and singer
Tandile was 29 at the time of this interview. She was studying for a Masters degree in music and delighted crowds with her performance on the alto saxophone and keyboards, as well as playing several native African instruments too.
The money raised from the concerts went to help feed, clothe and educate Aids orphans in South Africa.
I’ll play you the interview with Tandile first and then you’ll hear two songs that she played for me exclusively using traditional African instruments.