No musicians are as synonymous with Oppikoppi as Koos Kombuis, the star of the original gathering in the bush 15 years ago. But Tidal Waves come close. Since their on-stage debut at the Northam farm over a decade ago, they have become stalwarts of the festival with their uniquely South African reggae vibes.

We ran into the group's frontman, Zakes Wulana, and talked Klerksdorp, healing audiences, and his infamous stage dives

You're originally from Klerksdorp, which is more famous for mines than music. What is the scene like there?
I can say, like for everything, it's down and dead. When we were still lighties, when we were six or seven it was happening because there were a lot of bands alive who inspired us to be musicians. But soon after that, things they went down. All those bands they didn't make it big and a lot of us ran away to Joburg.

When did you actually start the band?
I started when I was about 18, with friends at school. We were still messing around and it wasn't like the current band. All of us were just learning, but from there on it kept my mind focused on music until I decided to come to Joburg when we were a reggae band called The Ghetto. So since we started, it's been music all the way.

Hasn't that been difficult?
It's been hard, especially in South Africa where musicians are not given the respect that they deserve or the chance that they need.

For us it's a long way that we took because it wasn't just success from the start. For example, when we started playing Oppikkoppi, in 1998, we were playing at about 12 in the afternoon when people were still sleeping in their tents. And we kept on playing for those five people who were watching us and they went around to other people and said: 'Come watch this band'.

It kept growing until we got the best slot - we're a big band now.

But despite the hard work you've had to put in, when you get on stage it looks like you're having a blast.
Yes, when we get to the stage we go into another world and that's why we give it our all. We don't want to give it half. We treat our music as if we're kind of like doctors and the audience are kind of like our patients. We're kind of healing them.

There are people who are depressed, there are people who are divorced, there are people who have problems with their businesses, there are people who have troubles in their families. So we need to make sure that they're feeling OK after the gig, that feel like 'Hey, I'm healed. That weight is off my shoulders.'

And when people feel that, we really feel like the mission is accomplished. We don't just play music for fun or making money or becoming huge stars or something like that.

Is that where your slogan "Original music for original people" fits in?
That statement means a lot. I think our music gives a lot of people pride. They don't feel weak after listening to Tidal Waves. They feel as if they need to stand up as South Africans or men or women and do something.

Does this message come across when you play overseas, in places like New Zealand, Belgium and Italy?
They love the music. The reception that we get when we are out of country is amazing. We're like stars when we're there. We're a big band and they're proud of us and the people really love the music because our crowd follows us in everything that we do. Those guys are so loving the gig that they bring more people for the next gig and more people for the next. They film the band, they buy or borrow the CDs, so it's more massive there.

So have those been your most memorable shows?
Well, there was one at Oppikoppi the year we introduced 'Lekker Lekker Dans' - the first time we played that song. The show was crazy - it was one of the highlights of our South African shows.

We had the right time - we were playing at about eight o' clock on the main stage - so everyone was there. It was crazy, yeah.

And the stage dives of course. I like to gooi it on stage dives sometimes. Sometimes it goes wrong somewhere, but people get to know about it, so often you can jump and it turns out good.

Is that memory one of the reasons you keep coming back to Oppikoppi?
No, it's because Oppikoppi is something very, very different. It's South African culture where we are now, our current culture, so it's part of our lives. We need it. It's about positivity, it's about having fun and people being entertained. If I get the opportunity I'd like to do Oppikoppi for the rest of my life.