Karabo Mogane and his wife are celebrating a milestone. The 2015 Idols SA winner who ‘robbed’ celebrated gospel singer Mmatema Moremi of the Idols first prize in 2015, took to his Instagram timeline to commemorate one year of marriage with a lengthy heartfelt message to his partner.

 

Back then, many believed that Mmatema would win the grand prize as she arguably sang better than Karabo, but much to the nation’s surprise, and supposedly disappointment, it was Karabo who got more votes and was therefore declared the winner.

In a post where he was celebrating his marriage milestone, Karabo expressed gratitude to his wife, using school as an analogy to their describe their marriage.

“One year in marriage is like 12 years in school, every day the curriculum changes and you have to adapt, but doing it with you has been seamless. I’ve learnt so much in such a short time, I guess it means we’re great students and God is a great teacher.

“We’ve just finished high school; today is our matric dance, looking forward to what God has for us in store for [in our tertiary years] and I’m excited. I love you with all of my heart and I’ll continue to do so. I promise and pray we inherit everything God has put aside for us. God is rewriting what we have written so let’s let the process happen, sweetie pie. I hope you enjoy today.” he wrote.

In another post, Karabo described being married to his wife as nothing short of amazing.

“I’m blessed to have you in my life, sweetie pie. You paint my world with bright colours and bring meaning to my life. You light up my day and spark up my soul. My success means nothing without you in my life.

“Whenever I look into your eyes, I feel the same way as I felt on the day we first met and I looked into your eyes — and yes, if I could do it again, I would.”

The past two years have presented a series of challenges for artists, but he’s ready for the next phase.

It’s been over six years since Karabo Mogane walked away as the winner of Idols South Africa season 11 in November 2015. The soulful RnB and gospel singer has been working on cementing his place in the industry since then.

A few months ago he performed in East London at Soulful Sundays, supported by the Eastern Cape Jazz Festival, alongside singer Simmy and Zuko SA.

Karabo says he is happy to be back on stage doing what he loves.

“It’s amazing to be back on stage, it’s been tough to be honest because this is our livelihood. To now have the opportunity to get on stage and do something that you love is amazing. This is what it’s about, the love of doing it and so far it’s great, the country has been opening up nicely, more and more opportunities are opening up,” he says.

He is currently busy in the studio working on his new single and an EP that he will drop later in the year.

“I could tell you what the title is but that would be me giving away the surprise from my wife.

“It’s a beautiful body of work that I am putting together, there are a couple of artists that I’m hoping and praying I get to feature on the project,” Karabo says.

He hopes to one day work with legendary artists such as Grammy award-winning Black Coffee, award-winning musician Zonke, guitarist Jimmy Dludlu, Lloyiso, and more, “those are legends,” he says.

Speaking about Lloyiso, who was also in season 11 but was voted off from the competition after making it to the top 5, Karabo says he is motivated by the strides he is making.

Lloyiso recently performed at the wedding of famous footballer David Beckham’s son, Brooklyn, and it was covered by British Vogue. Lloyiso has since been signed under the American record label Republic Records, owned by Universal Music group. “It’s beautiful to watch,” Karabo says.

“We all have a dream and our purpose is to fulfil it, when we see some of us or many of us get to where we need to get to, it’s good for us to celebrate. There’s a saying that ‘if God blesses the people around you, it means he’s in the neighbourhood, you are also next,’ don’t look at someone’s success and see a threat, instead be motivated.

“I am highly motivated by Lloyiso, to see him and what he’s doing and many other artists that were in the season, Amanda Black, Mmatema, these guys are doing great things. Just that alone for me says we will get there, the question is when, but we will get there.”