Shangaan Electro is a style of music I came across when I visited South Africa a few years ago. It’s since come out of its origins into something of a worldwide phenomenon thanks to an Honest Jons compilation, remixes, support from Damon Albarn and a live show.
The orginator of the Shangaan style (characterised by digitised marimba beats and African rhythms which rarely drops below 180 BPM) is Richard Mthethwa aka Nozinja and he’s responsible for all of the productions in the style of Shangaan Electro. His latest release comes out on Dan Snaith’s Jiaolong imprint which recently released his Daphni album. The two tracks ‘Heke Heke’ and ‘Hoza’ are good examples of largely instrumental Shangaan.
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
