Freshly mixed – Freshlyground goes live on MXit

Issued by: MXit

Instant messaging service MXit will offer South Africans an opportunity to chat directly with members of MTV European Awards favourite Freshlyground, in two 45 minute sessions on Tuesday 30th October at 4pm.

Last month local band Freshlyground released their latest album Ma’Cheri featuring their single “Potbelly” as a chart topper on 5FM’s World Chart show hosted by Nicole Fox.

“We will be chatting about our inspiration for Ma’Cheri and Potbelly’s lyrics ‘fat thighs, flabby arms and pot belly’ – something everyone is curious about!” says Zolani Mahola, Freshlyground’s lead vocalist. “We will also chat about our upcoming nationwide tour due to start on the 2nd of November in Cape Town and, on a more serious side, our experience with social networking online.”

“Celebrity Chat is a fun way for fans to get in touch directly with their favourite stars while at the same time experience the need to chat safely online. Chat room usage and instant messaging (IM) is a popular means for people to meet and stay in touch. With this there is a need to maintain responsible use: not disclose your personal details, avoid profanity and not meet online contacts in real life. We believe Freshlyground would be best to chat about this, based on their personal experience using messaging as a way to stay in touch”, says Paul Stemmet, general manager of MXit Lifestyle.

Now five years old Freshlyground is a seven member band of Mozambican, Zimbabwean and South African origins, with music that is a fusion of African flavour and classical percussion. Not defined by one genre, Freshlyground’s music combines elements of Folk, Afropop, Jazz and Indie Rock. Critics have described Freshlyground as “passionate” and “red hot” with “an honesty and depth in their lyrics”.

“Music and technology go hand-in-hand today and most youths see services such as MXit as their social lifeblood, so it’s a fantastic and direct route to our fans”, says Mahola.

Based on MXit’s need to offer their 5,3 million users a safer and moderated chat facility, Dynamic Chat Zones were introduced earlier this year. “Even with these features there remains a need to keep our safety messages fresh and MXit users are constantly reminded to never share personal information and to not meet online friends in real life”, says Stemmet.

This fourth Celebrity Chat session coincides with the recent addition of three new languages available on MXit – Xhosa, isiZulu and Afrikaans. Between the band members Zolani, Simon, Peter, Kyla, “Gugs”, Josh and Aron all the main local languages are all covered and users can chat in their language of choice.

To join the Freshlyground chat download the latest version of MXit by visiting www.mxit.co.za/wap. Follow the step-by-step registration guide and add ‘celebritychat’ as a contact from Tradepost and look out for the ‘Freshlyground Chat room’.