Joao da Fonseca will never forget the moment he met Dr Duda and Mo-T for the first time. It was on a rooftop in Sandton ten years ago. There is something special about that moment,” says Fonseca, better known by his stage name J’ Something.“We met on a random stage on a rooftop in Sandton, not knowing one another from a bar of soap. We jammed together on stage that night. People asked us for pictures and autographs, I didn’t know them at all but we had so much fun.

Three months later, the trio would record their first song as Mi Casa, and would go on to become one of South Africa’s most successful music groups.

“Three months after that night,I begged the guys to record one track, we eventually did it. We made These Streets. The rest is history I guess …”
This month, the house band celebrates their ten year anniversary together. They have also released a brand new album “We Made It” , which Fonseca considers one of the best albums they have ever made.

The Saturday Star chatted to Fonseca about Mi Casa’s ten-year long journey and the defining moments that helped them become one of South Africa’s most successful bands.
How would you describe the past decade with Mi Casa?

It’s been a REAL relationship, not only between the three of us, but I feel like everything we’ve built has been real, timeless music, great memories, and powerful moments. I have enjoyed most of it … haha.
How did Mi Casa first come about and who was the driving force behind the group?

There are these moments in life that you look back on and just wonder if by some small chance, that moment was actually meant to be. What I mean by this is sometimes you think you have fallen for the love of your life and a couple months later you no more.

That person you declared as your soul mate and the person you wish to love for the rest of your life, but then he/she is no more. So looking back on ten years of Mi Casa I still stand by the fact that this was meant to be. There is something special about the moment we met on a random stage on a rooftop in Sandton, not knowing one another from a bar of soap, to then jamming together on that stage, people asking us for pictures, and autographs, and that time I didn’t even know the guys I was on stage with. It was three months after that night, after me begging the guys to record one track, we eventually did it. We made These Streets. The rest is history I guess …

Did you guys ever imagine being this successful?

Well, your question has a variable that one has to take into account, the definition of success. Did I hope and dream of being this happy, doing what I love, and being able to live off music? I most certainly did.

There is a moment I will never forget and that is without a doubt the making of We Made it, our latest album. I love creating. Being in the studio is my favorite place in the world, dont tell my wife that, but I just get lost in making music, lost in a good way. I almost feel like I disappear into this substance that takes over me. Now with this new album we had the hardest task in our career, in my opinion. We had to birth something new, something without boxes, a body of work that could truly reflect who we are, and for me specially i needed to find myself in Mi Casa. I believe I did this with this album.

By removing the boxes from my life, i managed to find myself, and believe Mi Casa did the exact same thing, we dug deeper than ever, allowed people into our space, co wrote, ate and drank together, laughed together, cried together, and the couple of months we spent there in that house making this new album, it has to be the highlight of my career. I feel like Mi Casa has been reborn.

Your most memorable moment on stage with Mi Casa was… ?

So many! I’m thinking of the time we jammed with Jonathan Butler in Nigeria. That guy is my hero. He called me on stage. i was like … WHAT?? But, a moment that stands out as the most memorable moment on stage for me with Mi Casa was our last Kirstenbosch Gardens. We performed a new song called Chucks, for the first time, sort of like in the middle of the set. Finished the show, which was incredible as always, and went