Katlego Sekhu
Fistaz Mixwell and Mpumi Mlambo on love, money, business and the song they are calling a milestone.
Fistaz Mixwell and Mpumi Mlambo, known together as The Mixwells, recently joined Kaya Breakfast for a conversation that moved between love, music and business.
The couple built their following on a YouTube channel that began as two people jamming to house music in a kitchen, no lights, no script, just the music and each other. It has since grown into a movement that has taken them to stages in Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini and MTN Bushfire.
Their story started long before the cameras. Mpumi bought one of Fistaz’s compilations during her first year at university in 2010, years before she knew what he looked like. “I’d had his compilation, but I didn’t know what he looked like,” she told Kaya Breakfast. It was only once they connected on Instagram that the pieces came together. “So that’s why we’re here,” she said. “We just always love sharing music with each other.”
Going public was never a strategic decision, Fistaz explained. Having previously been married, he was cautious about how and when their relationship became visible. What shifted things was wanting the freedom to simply be themselves while travelling together. “There’s no way I’m going to be in these fancy places and I’m not being able to be myself,” he said.
Running a business as a couple comes with its own rules. “We show up for business,” Mpumi said. “It’s work and it’s a responsibility.” The pair say they separate personal friction from their professional commitments, resolving what needs resolving before a gig rather than letting it show on stage.
On money, both said honesty has been non-negotiable from the start. “We’ve got separate goals, and then we’ve got goals together,” Mpumi said, adding that neither of them wants to defer their own ambitions for the sake of the relationship.
The Mixwells premiered their new single, Don’t Let Me Go, exclusively on Kaya Breakfast, with the official release expected in the coming weeks. Fistaz described it as a milestone moment.
“This is quite a milestone for us,” he said. “We’re quite excited to be jamming our own song now, together, instead of jamming other people’s songs only.”
To hear the full interview, listen to the podcast.
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