Johannesburg- Ishmauel Songo has made quite a name for himself in the South African acting industry, and this morning fans of Showmax’s The Wife were sad to learn that his character Mpande is no more.
Speaking to Sunday World the 29-year-old AFDA graduate who hails from Tembisa shares his journey on playing Mpande on Showmax’s telenovela The Wife.
“Playing the role of Mpande Zulu was not easy at all because I was born and raised in Johannesburg, so tapping into that kind of Zulu was difficult, but if you’re a gifted actor you need to go do your research.”
Ishmauel shared that he had to prepare himself for that role and also mold himself.
At the auditions, he initially auditioned for the role of Nqobizitha but didn’t get that role.
He was later called back and was given a script to prepare for the role of Mpande.
“Little did I know I got the role but I think they already knew they wanted me but not for the role of Nqobizitha. They probably saw that I would do better for the role of Mpande.”
Prior to going for the auditions, Ishmauel had no idea what Hlomu the Wife was and had never read any of the books.
After Rhythm City was canned the actor had to get himself an agent, and that’s when he got a brief to go and audition for the role of one of the Zulu brothers on The Wife.
“I took a decision not to read the book because I didn’t want to be narrow-minded in terms of what to do and I’d be very fixed into one box. I wanted to allow myself to be creative in terms of what my idea of the book is,” he said.
One of the challenges that the actor faced was having to transition from shooting a soapie to constantly shooting outdoors most of the time.
“I eventually got the hang of it and I then had to adjust to shooting with seven other brothers. It was also the long hours of shooting and also having t form a brotherly bond in a short space of time.”
Ishmauel also shared the inspiration behind the name “uNicki Minaj wey’nkabi” and the lollipop that his character is well known for constantly carrying.
“I take my craft very seriously and it kind of has a theatre background whereby you invest a lot. I’m more of a method actor and I wanted to twist things around a bit on Mpande so I put some fabric on him and dyed his hair.”
“With Mpande being one of the younger brothers I kind of got Nicki Minaj as UNicki Minaj wey’nkabi to bring it back to the taxi world. Also because Mpande is flamboyant like Nicki I looked at the color, the fabric and added the lollipop because Mpande is a sweet boy,” he said.
Ishmauel also left a message on his social media to his fans who were sad to see his character die on The Wife.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for believing in my craft. Being a storyteller is not easy because you ” living a day in a life of somebody else”. The support has been crazy!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO STAINED GLASS PRODUCTION, for giving me this opportunity.”
“Last but not least, the man himself, God all mighty I’ve been in this industry ever since I was a kid, and I’m still growing strong. This is definitely not the end, but it is the end for the character I play Mpande. Bigger things are coming my way in the year 2022. let me fuck shit up!!! Watch this space,” he wrote.
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