Cape Town DJ and music producer Simphiwe Sihawu cannot wait to introduce the people of South Korea to Gqom music as he prepares for his first gig abroad.
Popularly known as Mr Thela, the musician from Samora Machel in Philippi will be jetting off to Seoul and Songtan where he will perform next month.
Sihawu burst onto the scene on his collaborative album “Make Cape Town Great Again” in 2020 and recently released his first solo album “Tronics Land Series 1“ in November.
Growing up playing the keyboard in church, Sihawu began his music career in 2016 under the mentorship of local DJ Soyisele Mdzinwa popularly known as Ta Koko.
The 23-year-old told Weekend Argus his performance abroad was a dream come true.
“This is also reflective of the fact that anything is possible, I have always dreamt of playing internationally and wished to be known as an international DJ,” he said.
As a gospel and gqom fusion artist, Sihawu said the highlights from his performances always came from how people interacted with his music.
“There’s nothing better than moving a crowd and travelling to places of happiness with my music,” he said.
“I look forward to Introducing the gqom genre to the people of Korea.”
He said in future he would like to collaborate on some songs with South Korean artists.
“(This is) just to expand the gqom sound and infuse it with other languages and cultures.”
Despite his album being released at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, the record went platinum, earned Sihawu and DJ Mshayi a nomination for the best gqom album at the 2021 South African Music Awards and even the lead track “iParty” was featured on a Netflix production, JIVA!.
He said the most rewarding part of being a DJ was being able to connect with people through music.
“You connect with different people from different places, travel and experience people and their cultures,” he added.
His next track, featuring female vocalist Nobantu Vilakazi as well as DJ Tira and Makoya Bearings is also expected to be released soon.
Mdzinwa said he was proud to see the young artist living out his dream.
“He is a young boy who had a dream of becoming the best deejay producer and musician,” he said.
”He truly focused on his wish and has inspired a lot of people because his music speaks to the soul.“
Weekend Argus