When Keith Richards first visited Chicago's legendary Chess Records in the early 1960s, he was greeted by a shocking sight. The Blues, which was the rage among British youth, was all but forgotten in the United States, and Muddy Waters was making ends meet by doing odd jobs around the Chess studios. "There was the King of the Blues, and he was painting the ceiling."
Europe has gone through an infatuation with Chicago House as well as Chicago Blues, but you never know where the seeds thrown about will land or what kind of creation will sprout. Case in point: South Africa. House Music is undergoing a renaissance in a place all but forgotten by American artists and audiences. It doesn't sound exactly like something that fell off the Cajual or Strictly Rhythm delivery truck - just like no one would confuse a Rolling Stones record with Muddy Waters - but this is natural as South African producers and DJs have added their own cultural influences and vibes. And some of this is, in the words of Dr. Bob Jones, so soulful it hurts...
Today's cutting edge American producers, however, are starting to notice. Here's a short clip of Dennis Ferrer's remix of Zonke's track "Ekhaya" on Kalawa Jazmee Records:
The music press in Europe and the United States has been slow to acknowledge South Africa's new generation of House artists, though a few (such as Black Coffee) are starting to break through. The local press however is full of interesting stories (ironically enough, many emerging South African producers and DJs began working in House Music after starting out in Hip-Hop and R&B, which is a reversal of how it's evolved in the United States). A story posted today in The South African, an expatriate paper for South Africans living abroad, features a short profile of DJ Qness:
The song features Oluhle, born as Sukoluhle Ncube, who is based in the UK. "I listened to one of her tracks on 'MySpace'... the voice just did it man...she sounded like Brenda Fassie to me. Oluhle's voice is just electrifying."
Like many established DJ's Dennis Ferrer has toured South Africa for quite some time now so when DJ Qness heard his reaction about South African house music he was more than pleased. "Dennis Ferrer was so amazed, he said; he is actually bigger in South Africa than his home town. They acknowledge that house [music] is so big in South Africa."
Check out DJ Qness' hot new track "Uzongilinda" featuring vocalist Malehloka at his myspace page here.
