Lucky & Mohau

a.k.a LuckyMohau

Brothers Lucky and Mohau hail from the Free State Province, in the centre of South Africa. Growing up in that part of the country with all its challenges, life was tough for these two brothers that they had to relocate from Viljoenskroon to the fairest Cape Town.

Having a Sotho father and a Xhosa mother would not only pose an identity threat to these young lads, but managed to strengthen their cultural education in the diverse landscape of the South African society. This worked to their advantage in shaping their understanding of their heritage and expression of values when in the company of others with different cultural orientation.

Mohau, born in 1989, was the first to relocate to Cape Town to join their dad in 2000. He attended St Michaels Church in Khayelitsha, were his musical journey started shaping up. He played in the church's marimba band with friends, with whom he also started an acapella group that honed his vocal skills. He was also part of a musical cast called Banna Ba Lesedi where they performed in and around Khayelitsha.

Things took a different yet more interesting turn when he hooked up with fellow developing guitarist Ongama Mona. He was the national winner of the Nedbank Gospel Challenge in 2007. With his payment from the marimba band performances, he bought himself a second-hand acoustic guitar and started taking lessons after he declared his interest to learn the guitar to Ongama. After 3 weeks of incessant playing, Mohau was able to strum a few cords while singing some of his favourite tunes. And he never looked back thereafter…

Among his favourite musicians, Mohau is vocally influenced by the late legendary reggae icon, Lucky Dube. The writing skills and lyrics of Afro-balladeer Ringo Madlingozi inspired him to pen down his songs as they are relevant to his audience. Blues maestro BB King is his idol when it comes to his instrument of choice, the guitar.

Lucky was born in 1984 and joined his younger sibling only in 2003. He was also part of the church choir movement but showed more interest in the piano in 2004. Doing a lot of backing vocals during marimba performances, he later asked Mohau to pass onto him the tricks of guitar playing. A month later they could play, compose and harmonize together in the small room they shared. This explains why they are so inseparable wherever they are: more close friends than siblings.

Their musical sound is influenced by the diverse cultural influences that shaped their upbringing. African rhythm, Latino sound, soulful and melodic harmonies: LuckyMohau.