Mash Sarila is an artist from Rotterdam but my real name is Promise Hlayisani Sarila. I’m known for the music that I do, I’m known for producing for the production that I’ve done for other people, I’m actually an all round entertainer who’s self is self produced
What are the Good and Bad things about Tsonga Soul and RnB according to your Experiences?
• According to my own experience, I would say; the music penetrates, so the good thing it does is, it does penetrates beyond our tradition or beyond the language (Xitsonga), so you are able to find people enjoying your music even if they are not even Tsonga, I’ve seen that a lot. There’s isn’t much of people looking at it as if maybe it’s accommodating more of Tsonga culture.
The bad thing about it is; The people that are Tsonga, they have a way of… I don’t know, every time they listen to that, they won’t actually be happy if maybe there was just one genre which is a traditional type of music, or it has to be Marabenta, because I can see a lot of people confusing Tsonga RnB / Tsonga Soul with Marabenta, and Marabenta is Marabenta and Tsonga RnB, I believe is Tsonga RnB, that’s what I’ve been doing since the beginning of your “Ndzi Rhandze yena” and all my other songs
Which song would you say it made a lot of people know and love Mash Sarila and what’s the story behind it?
• It has to be “These Fools” where I featured Zola 7, I believe that’s when a lot of people wanted to know who I was, and the story behind the song “These Fools” was mainly to advise people to learn to love themselves more… not in terms of being selfish but being selfless in a way of loving yourself, not to let other people control your ways or… there’s this peer pressure you know, we we’re trying to fight against that and saying that “you shouldn’t do it”, when you go out there and try to build your dreams, you always need to remember the main reason why you left home, so you’ll never forget on the way because you turn to meet a lot of energies that may somehow come in your life only to distract you and kick you off the way and you are not able to reach exactly what you were trying to do from the beginning, so that’s the story behind “These Fools”… That they are not Cool, they may look “cool” now but later on when you look at your life, you gonna realise that you have wasted a lot of time and Time wasted is never regained. That song for me, when I released it, it made a lot of people want to understand “who’s this guy in a song with Zola?”, so “These Fools” did a lot and there are songs after that just kinda certified exactly who Mash Sarila was to the people
How did Mash Sarila’s life Change after “These Fools”, especially a response from your family and friends towards your music?
• My life changed after that song I guess, that’s when I signed something that really introduced me on a commercial scale, a record label which was hosting the likes of your Benny Mayengani, that time during the Triple Z, when it was Benny, Prince Rhangani and Joe Shirimani, and it introduced me into also working with them on that type of a level, and for my family and friends, I guess it was a milestone because I grew up listening to Zola and I always looked up to the things he was achieving and hope that one day he would give me an ear and when it finally did happen, it crossed us over to us even having a song together. For me it was milestone in my career, it really introduced me to a lot of people in the industry, even some more big names started recognising who Mash Sarila was
What makes a Good Musician in your opinion?
• According to Me, a good musician is someone who is not a copy and paste of someone else, I believe they have some distinctive nature about them, so when you listen to them, you already would say that is whoever’s sound. For me that’s a good musician, it is someone who not only just entertains but also leaves a little bit of a message, a good musician is also someone who is not just more about music but also about family, respect and prayer. For me, that’s what makes a great musician. Someone who’s able to entertain me, leave me with a bit of a message, who’s God fearing… and another thing who is very original to their true nature. You cannot compare that artist with another artist, the minute you start comparing someone with someone, there has to be some sort of an identity crisis, so for me, I don’t really look at such artists and say they are great artists… not throwing shades at anyone but that’s how I would like to answer that question
Which one artist from outside South Africa did you have great experience working with and why?
• I believe the artist that I’ve worked with and had a great great experience working with was King Malachi when I was in the United States of America. When I worked with him… I guess that man opened my eyes more into understanding that as an artist, it’s not necessarily about making it somewhere far or being recognised everywhere around the world because you may lose yourself trying to fit in everywhere, he taught me to be grounded to who I am and to be proud of my heritage and to keep on pushing who I am and not focusing on moving away from the place and being somewhere, so such an artist for me, I believe he opened my eyes a lot into looking at life and understanding that not everything that glitters is gold, so a lot of artists, not that the other artists I’ve worked with did not give me a bit of an insight knowledge but I feel like his statement for me it still marks it as the most important lesson for me even today, I still mark that
What can the Fans expect from Mash Sarila in the near future?
• In the near future, you know… a lot of people have been telling me that you know… I’m not gonna this and be shy about it that the wave of sound has really shifted from a lot of other sounds, not that all other genres don’t matter no more but it has been the amapiano wave that has been raving around in all corners of South Africa and beyond, so for me now, I when I was signed in Netherlands, came to a point in my life where I was told that I should try that sound and see what I can do, so I’ve always had that mind of trying and doing my own type of amapiano, it’s not gonna be a copy of someone has had but it’s my own interpretation of how I hear the sound since I said I’m a self producer, people should look out for a project called Shamima, in honour of my late mother Shamima, Shamima is actually my mother’s name, I’m going to be releasing this project later in the year, I’ve not decided on a date yet but all I know is that I’ll be releasing a few singles before the year ends with music videos of the same project “Shamima” just to introduce that type of a sound to people, and so far I’m enjoying it, so I’m just hoping everyone will enjoy it much as I do, that’s what people should look out for from Mash Sarila
What’s your favourite Food and Why?
• My favourite food is iskopo, xkopo, nhloko… nyama ya nhloko, you know I’m so in love with it, when it’s Saturdays and I’m not doing so much, I’d rather buy one and then… we cook it at home you know, usually i like to cook the xkopo, if I’m not buying it elsewhere, I’d rather be cooking it at home, so I love that meat because it comes with a lot of heritage information that I nyama ya vavanuna (meat meant for males), it has so much benefits for me, so even for me, I feel like that type of a meat is also very socialistic type of a meat because you are able to chill with a lot of different people and Sharing good energies, good times and laughter, so ni rhandza xkopo mina because ahi xaku dyalexi ingati dyelaku iri wexe, it’s the meal to enjoy with friends and family
Shout Outs
• The Biggest Shout Outs that I’d like to send is to My Fans, everyone who has been supporting me from day one, everyone that believes in the brand Mash Sarila, Everyone who streams my music, everyone that talks about me on social media, all the radio stations that play my music, you know I’d like to send a shout out people who are actually uplifting my brand and making it known to the next person. I’d like to send my shout out to them and say Thank You. And… yeah, I guess that’s who I’d like to send my shout outs to, Obliviously my family and my partner
