BookMark [email protected]. Odia Artist Dj Remixes Odia Single Dj Remixes Hindi Bhakti Dj Hindi Old Love Dj Hindi NonStop Mixes; Puja Bhasani Special DJ Remix - (2019) DOWNLOAD. Lehariya Luta A Raja (Road Dance Remix) - DJ BCM Exclusive. Odia Artist Dj Mix: Hello Miss Rasabati Bilasa (Dance Mix) DJBT Brothers.
Raw, cutting-edge electronic music, made on cheap drum machines and uploaded to file-sharing sites has long been a product of South Africa’s townships. Kwaito house and Shangaan electro are just two of the recent genres to catch on, and the latest is gqom – pronounced qwom – a visceral, rough-edged, minimal form of house music crafted by a gaggle of young beatmakers such as DJ Mata, Cruel Boyz and DJ Lusiman.
Unlike glossy, more mainstream kwaito house, which has lost much of its original appeal by recycling the more hackneyed elements of US pop and hip-hop, gqom is an authentic form of expression. It’s dark and realistic, with an array of hollow drum sounds spun into jerky rhythms using FruityLoops software, and droning synths and ghostly one-note samples creeping in over the top.
Some of the producers described their music as a reaction to the unruly gangland atmosphere of their surroundings. “Screams, yells, hits, bangs, gunshots and so on reflect anger or emotional distress,” says producer Julz da Deejay. “It seems as if the artists channel their worries into music, by the deep sound of bass.”
Like Shangaan electro before it, uploading YouTube videos of the genre’s associated dance, the “bhenga” – all wavy arms, toe taps and wobbly knees – has become a fad. Deejay explains: “When you ‘bhenga’, you aim to create this very intriguing image of flexibility.” The moves are intended to attract an audience, drawing people into a circle as they writhe.
Citizen Boy, who released one of the gqom tracks to gain international attention, a choppy 2015 rework of Adele’s Hometown Glory, describes the intense atmosphere in any room the music plays. “It is heavy, because no one is shy,” he states. “It’s like they become a new version of themselves. And even those who can’t dance, they have the courage to dance.”
Thanks to specialist imprints Goon Club Allstars – who released a Rudeboyz EP last year – and London-based Gqom Oh!, more people outside of Durban now have the opportunity to try and wiggle to gqom’s offbeat thumps. You can already hear it around some British clubs, supported by producers like Kode9 and Mumdance, for whom gqom’s sharp kickdrums and shadowy atmospherics share a synchronicity with Chicago footwork and London’s grime. “It puts a very specific mood in a room when you play it,” says Jack Mumdance. “I feel gqom is resonating with a UK audience as it harnesses a similar feeling to grime, while coming from an entirely different and completely independent angle.”
Township tech: South Africans raving at apartheid’s afterparty
Read more
No doubt they’ll be in line for the first full-length compilation from Gqom Oh! this month. Italian DJ Nan Kolè and his SA-based friend Lerato Phiri set the label up last year, to help expose the music but also to invest in it.
“My main aim is to really help these artists who don’t have proper speakers or equipment to properly express their creativity,” he says, “to create a hub where they could book in sessions and then share their music with the world.”
Gqom Oh! The Sound Of Durban Vol 1 is out on Friday 29 January via Gqom Oh!