If you are a variety show supporter then you will remember the time when boy bands were the main ding.
It all started way back when Stay The Night hitmakers, The Boys, made a name for themselves as the first local boy band van die Kaap.
We then started seeing boy bands pop up all over the place, from Dejavu and Protege to Inspirations and Jag, and we even had a girl band by the name of Rondevu who rocked Cape Town.
It was a golden era in the history of our local music industry and the Luxurama Theatre in Wynberg was always buzzing, with girls screaming their lungs out for the guys harmonising and dancing on stage.
So at that time everyone who was a singer wanted to be in one.
It has been a while since we had a lekker boy band and I was quite excited when I heard about a group called Melody 5, who has been trending on social media.
Melody 5 is a boy band from Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, and started out as just a group of friends who loved to sing together.
I was surprised to hear that they started way back in 2011 already as they are all still quite young and at that time I didn't get to see them perform together.
The group consists of five members who are full of life and baie lus vir die ding, namely Ricardo Bruines, Isgak Gabriels, Ebrahiem Abrahams, Kyle Davids and Zaheer Samuels.
Isgak says: “When we started that time it was a positive thing to do because that was an era where drugs and gangsterism became popular to our generation, and this kept us away from all those wrongs.
“Music has a way of doing this, it's still part of the reason we are together to do something positive and spread a positive message to our community.”
They stayed together for about two years before gigs started slowing down “and because of that we lost our passion for singing”.
“About three months ago we came together to produce a song for a feeding scheme called Mosadie Gives Back and at that point we discovered that the talent is still there and we should continue striving and pushing for success.”
Success came quickly for the ouens this time around because they are open to working with other people.
They also realised that they are not songwriters, so after the Mosadie song they approached Afrikaaps musical star Monox to write and sell a song to them.
The group then launched the music video Allie Fondalie on TikTok and things just blew up.
At that time they must have had about 500 followers, but the song went on to be viewed over 100 000 times.
Allie Fondalie by Melody Five is still trending and the group used their newly-found confidence to keep pushing.
They then had another hit song in February, called Be My Valentine, featuring Monox and Jamie Barthus on vocals.
In the old days it took forever for a boy band to make a name, jy moet eers ’n paar numbers vrek gesing het annerste het niemand jou gekennie, en jy moet by elke gig gaan sing het, soema verniet oek, en dan in soe ’n paar maande tyd ken net ’n paar mense jou.
The technological era can create instant fame, because just three songs later posted to Facebook and TikTok, and already over 200k people have viewed #MelodyFive; this is the now we are living in.
I wish Melody 5 all the best and may they continue to grow, because from what I have seen they are extremely talented and have the potential to be the modern-day boy band that we need to keep the Cape Town boy band tradition alive.
Lekker, ouens, can’t wait for the next numbertjie to drop.
Do go and follow them on TikTok @melody5_official for more music and videos.