LISTEN | Sjava talks about returning home due to no gigs & his stint on 'eHostela'

After being away from the spotlight for several months last year, Sjava has lifted the lid on being forced to return home to KwaZulu-Natal due to having no gigs and his short stint as a villain on eHostela. 

Cast by award-winning director Mandla N to “shake things up” on the show as a villain called Fish, Sjava told the TshisaPOD how his character was all about entertainment.

HERE IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY: 

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“Being on set feels so good, the whole crew at Black Brain Productions, everyone has been good to me, I'm having a great time. 

“It feels good that I'm acting again. Me playing a bad guy is art – art is all about entertainment – so for me I don't look at the character as a bad guy, I look at it as me offering my talent and my skill to the people with hopes that they enjoy what we do.” 

When asked where he derived inspiration from to pull off a convincing villain in Fish, Sjava explained it was from life in KZN. 

“It's a life that I know. Remember, I grew up in many areas in KwaZulu-Natal where we were surrounded by people like Fish, so it wasn't difficult for me to act a role of someone we know or grew up knowing them to be.” 

Sjava then explained how “very different” he was from his character and that he found it very “draining to be a bad guy”.

“Haha! We are very different. I think I was acting a very tough scene that took me an hour to snap out of that feeling. We are very different but it's very nice to be able to tap into such a character ...

“Yoh, it's draining to be a bad guy, that's why you won't see me in a bad mood.”

With all music gigs banned due to Covid-19, Sjava expressed how he was now back home in KwaZulu-Natal.  

“We are not getting paid, we can't work ... so this is a very difficult time for artists right now. Truly speaking, we don't know what we're going to do now – our things have stopped.

“I'm even back home because I can't make money. We've been suffering, we're from the bottom – the ghetto – I'm sure we'll survive.” 

The muso also mentioned that he was working on a new album and had an EP out that people can listen to on streaming services.