SHANGAAN ELECTRO

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 (2 million hits and counting) 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, Roskilde and London's Blaze Festival. 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 over 4 shows in UK/Ireland and France in October.