The missing chapter in the ghetto scriptures “Good things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), sixteenth president of the United States. Going beyond the horizons of our own comfort zones make us who we become later in life. Anyone is capable of doing well and achieve good results in life. Most success stories I have read were not covered with roses but were constructed after crossing rivers and climbing big mountains. Cornet Thabiso Mamabolo story is not different from the stories we read about young South Africans who make it through diligence, perseverance, and determination. It takes a little bit hustle to achieve dreams. Cornet is an international acclaimed artist who is recognized and acknowledged in the field of performing arts as a performer and nationally acknowledged as a director, radio content producer and writer in the creative spaces. I think everyone would love to know as how Cornet started his career in acting: “Its funny how my acting career turned out. Initially I channeled and equipped myself to be a better stage actor. My dream was to be one of the biggest stage actors ever recorded in the history books. TV and/or Film were less of my priority. It is funny that I have to announce now that I get too many jobs in the line of television than stage, my time is occupied by screen and as a result I spend less time on stage.” His acting credits include SAs national television drama and international theatre performances across Africa like Botswana, Swaziland, SA, Zimbabwe and others. He did not only perform drama during his tours but part-took and facilitated drama workshops working with Ibsen Theatre Company, Chipawo World and Market Theatre for contextualizing Norwegian relist texts into African relist style. Life has its own way of dealing with issues of challenges. Like any other young man Cornet’s road to success was not only paved with roses he had his own challenges: “I had a problem breaking into the mainstream theatre due to my speech problems when performing. Speech was one of my weaknesses, more especially when expected to perform in the Queens language. I had to do lots of articulation exercises to overcome this. My background was a problem in an environment (University) I found myself in. I was fluent in most of the indigenous languages but English. I couldnt relate with most students because of that.” “I felt a need to belong because I was marginalized for a long time in my study period. This was a problem but I had to do something about it. I wrote a lot of stage plays and performed them. My performance was strong and I won peoples attention. I made connection outside varsity and spoke about my work. Then later I was one of the few students who never struggled with finding work in the field. NETWORKING IS CRITICAL IN THE FIELD OF ENTERTAINMENT.” The biggest challenge for Cornet was working and studying at the same time. He had to do this in order to survive as a student. There were times when he had to write and submit assignments while outside the country. He couldnt cope in most cases. It was straining. Then he had to drop out of varsity due to finances. It was difficult and painful having to see his fellow students going back to further their studies while he on the other hand had to put his studies on hold. “I left the country when I was needed for Skeem and they threatened to cancel me for the role. I was lucky that they waited for me to come back in the country.” In acting, Cornet M has experience in industrial theatre, corporate theatre, commercial theatre, protest theatre, applied theatre, realist theatre and screen acting. Here are few of the productions MC Mamabolo appeared in: “Revolution Between My Thighs”by Khutjo Green, “Zimbo!”by Bhekilizwe Ndlovu,“Township Fever”by Mbongeni Ngema, “The Republic”by Maishe Maponya, Viva Gomora by Herbet, Zabalaza and“2020 Orlando East”by Winnie Serite. Cornet is inspired by a lot of people: “I draw a lot from people in the industry that do well. The artists who are slaves of their crafts, those who prioritize their craft than rewards. I still favor Aubrey Sekhabi, Paul Grootbom, Khutjo Green, Gifter Ngobeni, Tipo Tindisa, Teboho Malope, My Parents, My Uncle and lots of people that strive to make this world a better place like Dj Sbu.” Cornet M is one of the principal actors in a drama series called Skeem Saam that has been turned into a soapie opera on the number one leading SABC channel, the show is on +- six million viewers per episode. In film he shot a corporate video for Intokozo Projects and department of health as a director and camera operator, then worked on a reality TV show (Sunday Chillas) insert as a director of photography for SABC, written & directed a short film called Arent We Brothers, director of photography for SABC1 reality TV show and shot pilot for a now airing show on SABC news channel called Untold Stories as a director of photography. In 2007 he was awarded the best poet by MSC College and the best actor by Lord Khanyile Festival as a high school student. In 2008 he received an award for being the best poet yet again, 2010 Wits School of Arts awarded him an award and scholarship of being the most promising student in movement and performance. In 2012 he wrote a reality television show that made it to a competition festival’s semi-finals of South Africa’s next top filmmakers organized by SA’s top production companies including Endemol, Encho and Quizical Pictures then Curious Pictures. Cornet M is a 2014 ambassador for Gauteng Provincial Legislature Voter Education Campaign. Cornet’s theatre writings were staged in theatres like Hillbrow Theatre, Joburg Theatre, Wits Theatre and Kliptown Centre. Cornet founded and produced an annual festival in the year 2012 at Joburg Theatre called Young Artists Festival to empower and give young art graduates and aspiring artists a platform to stage and exhibit their craft. Apart from being a performer, writer and director in theatre and television, Cornet is a radio content producer at Voice of Wits FM (VOW FM) and pursues an Honours Degree in Bachelor of Arts specialising in Dramatic Arts where he majors in directing, writing, drama & film and African Languages. Cornet M is amongst one of the few young South African artists and/or public personalities that have massive followers on social media world like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. He employs this platform to communicate with his followers, for advertising, marketing and doing PR for cooperatives and/or programs that change on seasonal bases. He has managed through his social power to fill up shows/campaigns/events with audience and create dialogue on international platforms. His Facebook fan page is on +-60 838 likes/followers, Facebook Personal Acc is on +-4801 then+-5135 followers on Twitter and +-263 on Instagram. Asked as what is that he would you want to achieve in life, Cornet’s response was simple and straight forward: “Hahaha this changes every time. I WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL; I WANT MY SUCCESS TO IMPACT LIVES AND INSTILL POSITIVITY IN YOUTH. I WANT TO BE THE LIVING PROOF OF SUCCESS. I have always dreamt of being a leader in line of entertainment but then I realized my creativity and inspirations are beyond entertainment. I still want to be recorded as an international actor, global filmmaker and theatre maker. I am still in the process of opening an art academy, and other businesses. “Good things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”Cornet’s life best describes these words by Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), sixteenth president of the United States. He decided not to wait but to hustle his way up. He is celebrating his birth day on the 10th of August 2014. I will make sure that he is ONLINE one day so that you chart with him on Wednesday and Thursday evening, this week or next week, on this STATUS.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 09:35:39 +0000
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