SA music group T.!.A drops new video for ‘You Taught Me Well’ – bringing township music to the world

After launching a platform to assist emerging artistes in Africa launch and develop their careers, entertainment company Hitchat has unveiled its first collection of artistes known as T.!.A (This is Africa).

With its original, authentic T-POP sound, T.!.A is a mix of talents from South African townships Philippi, Khayelitsha and Nyanga, who have merged their artistry and together have written the song “You Taught Me Well”, telling the story of their combined efforts and their Hitchat journey.

“Hitchat is an Africa-based entertainment company. We develop synchronized acts to entertain music fans in townships using our unique T pop model because we believe music is meant to be shared and is the most universal language,” co-founder of hitchat Erik Grönwall told Face2Face Africa.

He explained that “Hitchat first started in Philippi in Cape Town and did live events such as open mic sessions. The talents in T.!.A are the brave talents that seized the opportunity and got discovered via those events. They were all signed as solo artists in the beginning since we had an exclusive partnership with MTN and their streaming services and delivered cover songs to their platforms. You can check out the Hitchat sessions on our Youtube channel for more details. The talents kind of became a family and since we believe in building on strength and want to work with constellations they naturally became T.!.A.”

T.!.A is made up of lead vocalist Ameerah, lead dancer Vocal Zoid, lead male vocalist Mandila, sub vocalist Sisipho, sub rapper NossTheBoss and then group leader Mr.H.

Mr. H. speaks to Face2Face Africa about the group T.!.A and its debut single “You Taught Me Well.”

Can you recall the moment you were selected for this group? How difficult or otherwise was it coming up with the name T.!.A.?

Yes I can recall from the first time I met the guys for auditions and I felt that I would love to work with them and when we were told we would make *This* group I was filled with joy and excitement, we also felt we wanted to represent something bigger than just us and *Africa* is that great to us hence *T!A (This is Africa)*

How do you think your hometown/township has influenced the sound of the group and your style?

Townships are loud and Vibey, and that’s everything we have become growing up in the townships. But being from the most dangerous and negatively known townships in the world we chose to be Positive and show the world maybe that’ll strike a perfect balance of sorrow and happiness.

What was the inspiration behind the latest single, “You Taught Me Well?” Do you have plans of releasing new music soon?

YTMW is a positive song that speaks to kids in every ghetto or townships as inspiration and outcome of self education and willingness to learn from the world around you hence the title. We definitely do have plans of releasing more music so feel like there is a lot to be known and we haven’t even scratched the surface, keep your eyes glued.

How does the group go about writing music? Do you write together or separately?

We go with inspiration, anyone of us can come up with a beautiful idea where we can all add on be it we are in the same room or different places we always exchange ideas, plus we Jam a lot and that’s where the fire comes from mostly, not forgetting how open we are from 3rd party ideas, all ideas are beautiful and they can turn into songs.

Do you have any touring plans set for this year or 2021?

haha let’s call it Hope’s for now, we are just focused on creating a beautiful presentation and experiences for whoever we’ll be presenting for.

Tell us how you think social media has impacted this brand?

This is the digital age and the age of information, most of us wouldn’t be discovered without the help of social media and internet as a whole.

We are currently living through a pandemic. How do you think being in this group has kept you going?

This group gives me purpose to live and our dreams are a good place to be, they are much better than the reality that make us want to quit everyday.

What musicians have really been an inspiration to you all since you first started music?

For everyone there’s a different inspiration but Drake’s longevity and versatility we all admire.

What do you want people to take away from your songs?

We wish the music becomes a good escape when you want to have fun and forget about the worst like it is to us, take *Joy, Love* and *Hope* from it.