Bubblegum Club

Tag: Original Swimming Party

  • Darkie Fiction – Bringing back South African sounds

    Darkie Fiction – Bringing back South African sounds

    It’s been almost a year since the duo Darkie Fiction burst onto the scene with their nostalgic, feel good single ‘Selula’. Produced by Stiff Pap’s Jakinda, Darkie Fiction’s Katt Daddy and Yoza Mnyanda didn’t expect the track to have such an impact. “It was honestly just experimenting, trying, seeing what we could be if we came together.” recalls Yoza.

    The past year has seen the duo work hard in studio with like-minded producers to create their debut EP ‘Sobabini: A Mzantsi Evolution’. Meaning the two of us, the title is a reference to joining forces between rapper Katt Daddy and singer Yoza Mnyanda. Born out of frustration from hearing local music on commercial platforms that didn’t sound South African, the EP references a time when local sounds were dominating the airwaves. “We missed hearing Boom Shaka vibes and TKZee vibes. So we wanted to carry the baton from those kinds of people”. Yoza explains.

    Featuring productions by Fosta, Original Swimming Party, DJ Mdubulo, Thor Rixon, Albany Lore, as well as Maloon the Boom, the duo were looking for producers eager to experiment with them, but who also had their own style. “We want to take these producers out of the alternative/leftfield boxes and bring them into mainstream along with us. To change the perception of how people consume music and what people perceive as South African music.” says Katt Daddy of the duo’s decision in choosing the right producers for the EP.

    Stylistically the duo is similarly rooted in South African culture, with their photoshoots and videos referencing local culture heavily. The cover art for ‘Selula’ for example aims to portray the lives of Black South Africans during the 1970s & 80s that wasn’t documented or as Katt Daddy put it, “Black people were not seen in fancy houses with dinner tables and paintings on the wall.” Adds Yoza, “we wanted to say ‘hey, we grew up very nicely, [our parents] did their absolute best’”.

    Aiming for a shift in the local music industry, the duo believe that there is an appetite for local sounding music, but a lack of commercial support for it. “You play TKZee in the club now and people go crazy. But it’s access, it’s not circulating on radio, it’s not played on television. That’s what drives us to get back to be circulated again because we hope that our names are the names they speak of when the wave of the South African music industry shifted one day.” Yoza explains.

    Noting America’s dominance of media and culture, Katt Daddy also believes a major factor in the success of American sounding local music is due to an inferiority complex amongst black people thanks to apartheid’s legacy along with black South Africans admiration of black Americans who went through similar struggles during the Civil Rights Era. It is for this reason that Darkie Fiction is focusing on South African music for South Africans. “We’re not making music to be noticed in America and go to America, of course I’d like to be exposed to countries overseas, but it’s very important that we make music for South Africans as South Africans.” explains Katt Daddy.

    With the EP still fresh, the duo is currently working hard on promoting it and will be releasing a video for ‘My Ntliziyo’ next. “It’s focusing on the title of the EP, because we are also in a romantic relationship and lots of people ask if we are in one or not, so this video is going to say yes we are.” shares Yoza of the treatment for the video. They do have new songs in the pipeline, but are giving their EP some time to breathe first.

    Having played the likes of Design Indaba and Oppikoppi, the duo are no strangers to large stages and  feel more comfortable in that environment. “It’s actually the smaller stages we find more challenging. We performed at Kitcheners and that was the smallest stage we’ve ever performed on. It’s challenging, intimate, very different vibe, not to say that we don’t enjoy it but we conceptualise our performances on big spaces.” explains Katt Daddy. “We watch a lot of how Boom Shaka used to perform. We have a lot of grievances with the music industry at the moment. Sometimes we go to shows just to see how people perform and it’s so boring. So we decided to actually put on a show. We sweat! The visuals, the music, the performances it all has to tie in together and when you see Darkie Fiction on stage you say yes that makes sense. Quality is very important for us.” continues Yoza.

    Although Yoza and Katt Daddy aim to make music for South Africans they are acutely aware that in the current industry it is not sustainable as yet, still they believe artists shouldn’t be making music to be booked in certain places. “The ones that are making American sounding music are making the most money in South Africa and the ones that make South African music are the ones that get invited to Sweden or Switzerland to perform. It’s very funny. I think it’s possible and we as Darkie Fiction are advocating for that, that South Africans can be called to play overseas but you must not focus on making music so that you can perform overseas.” says Katt Daddy.

    Yoza continues, “…if you’re not being appreciated at home you should go where you’re appreciated. But I don’t think people deliberately don’t want to make it at home, it’s just the way it is. Hopefully it changes tho!”

    In the end Katt Daddy and Yoza want their listeners to take positivity from their music. “Be South African. Remember where you come from. Always stay positive in any situation. Just know that things will work out.” exclaims Katt Daddy. “Feel good. Katt & I both struggle from mental illness, so our music comes from there. It comes from when we’re feeling shit, we make music because it makes us feel better. And in turn when people listen to it they say they feel good. I think it’s not necessarily an intention that we’re going to make feel good music, but because of the place that it comes from for us then it ends up translating that way. Which is awesome.” adds Yoza.

  • 10 years of Moonchild

    “My mom has special powers, she sees stuff before it happens. So she’s an inyanga [healer in Xhosa]. Inyanga also means the moon, so instead of being a child of a healer I choose the moon. It’s about being the child of someone with a special gift,” explains Moonchild Sanelly when asked about her stage name. Born in the Eastern Cape, she was surrounded by jazz thanks to her mother who was a jazz singer and owned a jazz tavern. Weekends were spent at her grandmother’s home where her cousins who were Kwaito dancers would practice. Along with hip hop, these were the sounds she was exposed to as a child.

    Moonchild Sanelly always had a desire to be on stage. Singing and dancing from a young age it was in high school that she formed a group with a few of her friends and started performing Spice Girls covers at school assemblies. “I was a stage kid. I don’t remember thinking about becoming a singer one day. It was just one of those things, I’m going to be on stage, period.”

    Moving to Durban in 2005 to study fashion, her first performances were as a poet in 2006. While she can’t remember being introduced as anything else other than Moonchild, officially  Moonchild the artist was born in 2007.  Instead of trying to fit into the typical rhyme scheme or poetry mold she would let the characters she became on stage guide her performances. This led her to getting a regular slot on King Siso’s show on Kakasi FM. Already as a poet she was already subconsciously engaging with acts of female empowerment. “There was always some form of empowerment, without even me knowing I was empowering. I was just standing up for women. It was just me being myself.“

    Moonchild Sanelly describes her bold style as ghetto funk, a combination of music, fashion and dance. Her performances are energetic and sexy, with Moonchild Sanelly never standing still. Explaining her performances Moonchild says that, “this is how you lose your mind. This is when you lose your morals. This is when you are just free. And then you bring out the girl you always are.” Her lyrics are in a mixture of Xhosa and English and are a reflection of her authentic voice. “It’s literally the way I speak so I’m super expressive that way.“

    The past year has seen her collaborate with a variety of artists which she views as an opportunity to expose people to her music that would otherwise have not been exposed to her work. “I don’t want to change my sound. I want to be myself. But then there are people that will never be exposed to that.” The approach seems to be paying off as more people are starting to take note of her talents. “It’s working out nicely because now people hear one verse in a feature and they go back to the actual album. They know my music because the verse in the feature is already different.“

    Her long list of collaborations include three tracks on DJ Maphorisa’s upcoming compilation, including a track with Shimza  and DJ Maphorisa as well as one with Rude Boyz. Meanwhile her current single ‘F- Boyz’ is getting the grime treatment and will be released in the UK. She’s also got a track with Japan-based Weird Together alongside Kwesta coming out, while her track with Original Swimming Party, ‘Biggest Curse’, is getting an international release. Finally her track ‘Yhu’ with The Kiffness is currently on radio rotation. “There’s a lot of music,” says Moonchild excitedly.

    With so much music in the works an album is not a priority for Moonchild at the moment. “I feel like the features I’ve got are an album on their own. Before I even drop anything. I’ve no pressure to drop an album for next year. I’m definitely doing EPs.” Next year also sees Moonchild going on tour. While several destinations are on the cards, London is confirmed. With her voice reaching so many markets it’s only matter of time before Moonchild Sanelly becomes a household name.

    Credits:

    Photography & styling by Jamal Nxedlana

    Hair & makeup by Orli Oh

    Styling assistant – Lebogang Ramfate

  • Original Swimming Party debut full-length album ‘Hypergiant’

    I interviewed the guys from Original Swimming Party to chat about their debut full-length album ‘Hypergiant’.

    Tell our readers a bit about Original Swimming Party.

    OSP is an experimental audio-visual duo from Cape Town, comprising Thomas Glendinning and Jeremy de Tolly. We started in late 2013, based around a love of electronica, ambient and experimental music. We have since evolved to include African and South African musical influences, hence the term ‘Afrotronica’. Since our inception there has been a large visual element to our live shows – we work with projectors and screens to drench ourselves in beautiful, curated visuals that support and enhance the music. We have worked with numerous visual collaborators to create and perform our material, most notably Frank Latter, Thom Dreyer and Kevin Townsend.

    Tell our readers about the thinking behind the name of the album, ‘Hypergiant’.

    A hypergiant is the largest kind of sun. Since time immemorial the sun has been worshiped in human culture for good reason. Those photons keep us warm, grow the plants, power our lives. So it’s a symbol of God, of life, of the fire within and a statement of intention of how big we wanted this album to be.

    Tell our readers about the creative process involved in putting the album together?

    The album is the product of ceaseless experimentation and many happy accidents. Basically our process is to explore. Give birth to sound-children, and let them into the world, nurture and grow them without judgment. Some of the children make it onto the album. Some go elsewhere, to play forever in the happy cloud. We also made music that satisfied us. We had a GREAT time writing this and it felt really satisfying, genre defying. It’s the best music we were capable of at the time, and the sum of both of our inspiration, playfulness, heart and soul, our musical crushes and influences , and all of the good things that happen through pitching up.

    Tell our readers about the kind of dichotomies you address in the album (loneliness and joy, a feeling of things ending but a celebration of life, etc). Is this a kind of broader commentary on where we are as a country/globally?

    Yes, so many dichotomies. We do tend to oscillate between macro and micro perspectives. So we delve into our own humanity, which sometimes feels silly and self indulgent when set off against the macro perspectives of loveless politics, economic inequity and pending environmental apocalypse. But there has to be a place for both.

    You also address topics such as colonialism, dispossession, privilege and indigenous history in some of your tracks (both lyrically and sonically – ‘Life In The Colony’, ‘ Camissa’). Tell our readers about these tracks and addressing these issues.

    As two white South African males born inheriting the ample fruits of apartheid, we’ve found the last few years very challenging, at least from the perspective of finding our place in the scheme of things. We’ve been somewhat schooled by the #woke and #feesmustfall movements, but have come up embarrassingly short of being part of the solution. So these aspects of the journey are documented in some of the songs. We feel strongly that the heinous consequences of apartheid and colonialism must be addressed. In Cape Town particularly, we are faced with just how toxic and repressive the system remains for people of colour every day, and feel ourselves part of the problem, but what are we doing to change things? What are we prepared to give up? It’s both threatening and humbling. We’re clueless but keen to take part.

    Tell our readers about the musicians you featured and your decision to feature them (Greg Abrahams, Keenan Ahrends, Gene Kierman & Ryan McArthur).

    We love working with collaborators because it gives us unique inspiration. When it’s just the two of us writing we can very quickly get tunnel vision and get stuck using the same sounds so bringing in a collaborator brings a fresh perspective and can often bring new life to a track. When the band started we were initially a 3-piece, with Greg Abrahams as a full time member. But as he’s become too busy to work with us full time, we work with rotating 3rd members (not literally) to add to the sound of the band.

    Tell our readers about using everyday sounds in the tracks as well.

    We’re both very passionate about sound, not necessarily just music, and so we’re very interested in capturing and working with non-musical sounds (often called field-recordings). The field recordings sonically add character to the pieces but they also give thematic context, for example on the track ‘Camissa’ Tom went down into the water tunnels below Cape Town to record sounds. The water in the tunnels comes from Table Mountain and is the remnants of an ancient river that ran through the city and so in a way captures some of the history of Cape Town.

    Are there any tracks that have a special story to them?

    ‘Camissa’, as mentioned above, features unique binaural field recordings of the water tunnels below Cape Town. Binaural recording is a technique used to capture sounds in the way that the human ear hears so that when it is played back via headphones the listener feels as though they are in the actual recorded space. In ‘Talk To Us’, Jeremy was meditating in Newlands Forest and recorded the sounds of the creatures that were clearly trying to say something unfathomably beautiful to him.

    Any plans for the year you could let us in on?

    We have a music video in the works as well as several remixes and alternate versions of the album tracks. We are also planning an international tour for mid-year.

    Anything else you would like to mention about the album or OSP?

    Tom moved to London at the beginning of the year so we are currently a ‘long-distance band’. That has its struggles but fortunately with modern technology it’s relatively easy to keep up with what we do. We have regular Skype strategy meetings and even finished the last 20% of the album remotely. It’s also a huge opportunity for us to take our special kind of audio visual love to the northern hemisphere.

    To keep up with Original Swimming Part check them out on Facebook and Instagram.