Musician and DJ Muzi is one of the few artists open to experimenting sonically, often yielding good results.
It should then come as no surprise that he’ll be one of the headline acts at Afropunk Paris, that takes place July 13 and 14.
On a quick visit to South Africa because Muzi’s music has him travelling a lot, I catch up with him to find out how he’s feeling about this, but most importantly why he agreed to align his brand with that of Afropunk.
“Because of the values they hold. Because of them trying to shine a light on African culture, doing that in a non-prejudice sort of way. I believe we are all trying to uphold those same standards and values,” Muzi said.
Muzi explained some of his creative process, especially when it comes to planning the set he will be dazzling his French audience with: “I am working on my set. I am almost done with it. Usually I just make songs, but I don’t quite plan and stuff. It’s more of me getting my songs together, that I can play and reading the mood of the crowd, this helps me know what order to play the songs in,” he said.
What will potentially be making it onto his set line-up is some of the music from his new EP, Stimela seGolide. The four-track EP is a commemoration of the intersection of South African music and history.
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“I picked this title because of bab’ Mbongeni Ngema’s Stimela saseZola, because of bab’Hugh Masekela, the whole thing of people having to take the
train to go to work, in the mines.
“The four tracks are a story weaved together about forced displacement, economic migration, the impact of apartheid laws and love in that time.”
Muzi said in his storytelling technique, he juxtaposed the dark to the light, creating songs that seemed happy-go-lucky on the surface, but actually carried heavy subject matter throughout the EP.
* Stimela seGolide is available for download from all reputable streaming services
Check out Afropunk’s website for details on Muzi’s show