Booking Info

Territory: Europe
Agent: Mark
Touring: July/August 2012
Links: Honest Jons

Biography

Shangaan Electro is the street level dance phenomenon from South Africa that went global in 2010 on the back of a series of viral youtube clips and an acclaimed compilation on Honest Jon’s that introduced the movers and shakers in this fast emerging micro-genre. Shangaan Electro replaces Shangaan music’s traditional instrumentation with midi-keyboard sounds, re-pitched vocal samples and jacking four to the floor beats, then amps things up to breakneck speeds of over 180BPM. This is hyper-kinetic digital dance music custom made for weekly dance offs in Soweto.

Based on a Soweto street party, the live features the stars of the Honest Jon’s compilation – producer/mastermind and vocalist Nozinja aka ‘Dog’, the clown-masked Tshetsha Boys, alongside Tiyiselani Vomaseve, Nkata Mawewe and the fastest Shangaan dancers around. The band played their first ever shows in Europe in the summer of 2011, performing scene-stealing turns at Sonar and Roskilde festivals as well as Berlin’s techno mecca Berghain. They popped up again as part of Damon Albarn’s Another Honest Johns Chop Up! alongside the likes of Theo Parrish and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble in October.

A top notch remix series by the likes of Mark Ernestus, Oni Ayhun, Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer, Actress, Rashad & Spinn and Hype Williams has spread the word further into electronic dance circles.

Press Quotes

“It’s fantastic, best thing I’ve heard for a long time. It’s how music should be” – Karin Dreijer Andersson (The Knife)

“With a story this good, failure is not an option… the best show of the festival” – Dummy on their Sonar appearance

“None of Shangaan Electro sounds quite like anything else we have at our disposal. Which, come to think of it, places it within a rich tradition indeed” – Pitchfork.com

“This is the cheetah of African music” – NPR Music