The eccentric Czech of Sauti Sol

Marek Fusch, manager, Sauti Sol. Age 31 

By JACKSON BIKO

In Summary

• Marek Fusch is an odd ball. An eccentric, effervescent, wisecracking, quirky, fast-talking and hilarious odd ball. No dull moment around the guy. His mind veers from topic to topic at great speed and he offers frequent deep insights into things which you can easily miss if you don’t keep up.

The manager of one of the biggest bands in the region showed up at Urban Eatery, Westlands, wearing trendy but eccentric tortoise shell Ray-Bans, a zany African print blazer over a T-shirt, jeans and these hysterical black pointed-toe boots that reminded me of a hilarious Scottish movie I once watched of an assassin who keeps a sheep as a pet in his red-brick house.

True to character, he ordered a Bloody Mary (it was noon Saturday, after all) but warned the waiter, “Don’t play around with that drink, my man, or I will have to come to the bar and make it myself. Make it good.”

Marek Fusch is an odd ball. An eccentric, effervescent, wisecracking, quirky, fast-talking and hilarious odd ball. No dull moment around the guy. His mind veers from topic to topic at great speed and he offers frequent deep insights into things which you can easily miss if you don’t keep up.

I hardly kept up. He’s unmistakably brilliant and has a very short attention span. I expected him to bolt out of his seat any moment. And he did. Once. He also never removed his Ray Bans, masterfully telling enthralling stories from behind the dark lenses, leaving me with only my reflection to look at.

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Where is your wedding band, man? Didn’t you only just get married?

Oh shoot! Look, Annabel (Onyango) is always giving me grief about it. Look, I just got married and I’m still not used to wearing the ring so I keep forgetting it after my shower.

It’s been, what, 10 days? I got home last night after midnight and Annabel is like, (makes a mock impression, one hand on waist) “we just got married, we should spend enough time together, don’t you think?” (Laughs) It was practice, man.

She was all beefy and stuff and the next morning my dad called on Skype and I told him the story and he said, “Ahh, your mother did the same thing after we got married. She asked me what changed? You still come home at three in the morning.”

And my dad who used to play baseball until late said, “something fundamental has changed, woman. I look forward to coming home at 3am!” (Laughs) That was pretty funny. No, Annabel is cool, though.

What has changed for you?

I don’t know, it’s been two weeks, man. This is different, when you shake hands on something and when you sign a document. I mean for the first time, I got back from a tour and there was food in the fridge. There was KFC. (Laughs) Yes, but it was there and I was like hold on, hold on, is this really working? (Laughs)

Who are you?

I’m from the Czech Republic, was there until I was 10. After the revolution my mom was given a role in the government as a diplomat so there was a lot of travelling involved. We came to Cape Town then my mom left for Paris to work with Unesco. I stayed behind with my sister.

Then mom moved to LA. I once went to visit her when I was from high school and I was like (dramatic pause) “Girl, this is where you live, whaaat? What is this place!” (Laughs) I stayed in LA for seven years, attended UCLA, studying International Relations.