Dance music sensation Thakzin is plotting to be South Africa’s latest international star. This year the self-taught producer and performer from Ivory Park, Johannesburg, had on a run of impressive projects which include releasing hits and performing at grand events.
Thakzin’s hits currently include Horns in the Sun featuring DJ Kent, Possessed and Yes God featuring Oscar Mbo. These follow on his major hit last year, The Magnificent Dance,Â
The artist born Thabang Mathebula, 26, started to mix in 2007, then producing in 2011. His music is a compressed offering of Afro-house, deep-house and amapiano. The combo is colloquially known in the streets as three-step and Thakzin is the king of the groove. Added to it, for good measure, are doses of neo-jazz, to give three-step grooves an infectious sound.
At weekend, video showing Thakzin playing alongside Grammy award winner Black Coffee trended at the weekend. It was captured at Deep in the City show in Joburg.Â
Thakzin vouches for his musical pedigree through his father who is a keyboardist.
His forthcoming gig in Paris, on December 29, will mark his debut in France, giving him his ambition for international stardom a mighty lift.
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Dance music conference
Recently, Thakzin was a speaker at a two-day Dance Music Summit (DMS) conference alongside Black Coffee, Victor Mampane and Lars Behrenroth, to name a few, in Braamfontein, Joburg.
The drivers of the summit are DJ Christos and Lady Sakhe, since 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic put the summit on pause until it played out again in November this year.
In conversation with Sunday World at the summit, Thakzin boldly stated that taking the local music industry to a higher heights is now his responsibility.Â
He said veterans Christos and Vinny Da Vinci have set the bar high for artists in dance music scene.
“DJ Christos and Vinny are legends. I grew up listening to them and they have always inspired me. DJ Christos and Vinny have taken time out to sharpen the skills of young artist and connect with them.
“This is very rare to have deejays and producers speak and share the space. However, This platform is a great space to learn and grow,” Thakzin said.
He described the summit as “informative” as it gathered a calibre of artists who can share sound advice and inspire other artists who are taking the same path as them.
Explaining the role of the summit, DJ Christos its aim is to educate and empower the youth in the industry.
“DMS was started by myself and Lady Sakhe. It eventually went from DMS to Dance Music Industry (DMI) and the German Embassy jumped on board to back the project. We joined hands with GOGO (music label owned by house kingpin Ralf GUM) and that meant taking this summit around the country. We do four provinces annually. It’s been two years now,” Christos said.
He stated that the conference is dance music related and is about sharing, skills development and keeping the movement going.
German embassy role
“There are mistakes we made as young artists and this platform stands to guide young artists to avoid those speed bumps on their journey by providing mentorship. The space is open to networking and open your eyes to the avenues that you can shift your career into.”
Also in attendance at the summit was German Ambassador Andreas Peschke, whose embassy is a partner of the initiative.Â
Peschke said: “Apart from the economy and politics, culture and people are very important part of Germany’s relationship with South Africa. When we want to unite both countries, arts and culture play an important role, particularly music. Music is universal, it has ways of bringing people together.Â
“We try to delve into this in various spheres, like taking South African artists to Germany and doing the same for German artists. A choir from Limpopo had a very successful tour in Germany recently.”
Peschke said he is aware that it is unusual to associate an embassy with house music. He however admits that house music is big in Germany.
“Ralf GUM is one of the organisers here and originally from Germany that is how we connected with DMS in 2019 where the first workshop kicked off,” he explained.
Ralf GUM collaborates with South African artists on ongoing basis and performs in the country regularly. This month he is scheduled for shows in Rustenburg Civic Centre (Dec 15) and The Pearl @Klerksdorp (Dec 16) and Centurion Shisanyama (Dec 17).
He also had several shows all over the country earlier in the year. These included performances in kasi venues in places like Madadeni in Newcastle and Vergenoeg in Kimberley.
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