Happy New Year All.
I have been asked on a long and slightly loopy road trip from Cape Town to Lilongwe (Malawi).
Through SA, ZIM, ZAM. Leaving Tuesday 
I would love to have some current sub-saharan african dance music to listen to.
Whose mixes should I be tracking down?
Any thoughts very welcome indeed.
I did that drive when I finished high school in â96. We eventually ended up in Tanzania and sold the car there and flew back to Cape Town.
The radio is still very good in those parts of the world so just go along the dial youâll find something. In South Africa deep house is king so expect a lot of that.
This is also party season âDezembaâ so youâll have no shortage of things to stumble upon.
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Thanks man!
I will try and hijack the radio from my 60-something co-pilots.
Have cash on you to pay bribes, particularly once uou cross over into Zim.
Dollaring up for these situations.
Oh itâs not going to break the bank. More like a gesture if anything else.
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DJ Okapi is a bit of a renowned boss. I used to pick up gems from the Pan African Music blog a few years back, havenât really stayed up on anything current tho.
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Iâm sure he will be current enough for my purposes.
Thanks!
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Sounds epic!! Post us some travel pics!
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Charles Webster has released two albums from Cape Town now since he moved there, so itâs like him working with a broad swathe of the local community. LDN meets modern South Africa. I thought this one was particularly nice:
Get this on when your ears tire of the drum machines. 1970s Soweto, about as deep and legit as a reissue gets:
I still like that digging for rare African funk and pop vibe that Okapi has/had, but maybe that approach is a bit rarer now, or has been swamped by the evolution into amapiano/afrobeats/sth african deep house?
Youâll know more than us by the end of your trip, have a cracker!
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Itâs always been deep house though. DJs like Superfly were playing imports or playing the local versions of tracks like Your Love etc. Oskido will tell you that kwaito came from being inspired by a pitched down Robin S â Show Me Loveâ. Deep house will always be king. The biggest record ever - and one youâll hear played everywhere from Camps Bay to Soweto - is the Wahoo remix of Jazzanova âThat Nightâ. And itâs all pitched way down.
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The Batsumi record is magical.
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That Matsuli Music a very tasteful label in general yeah, every release is like a headturner.
One of my fav LPâs. Lishonile still blows my mind.
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This is a killer album - stunning
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There was a great reissue I must dig out again. And itâs not disco!
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Yep cheers to Mellsman for sending me down a nice Sth African jazz wormhole these last couple of weeks (even though he asked about dance music, haha). Deep and spiritual with all the folk traditions worked through it, quite special.
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