Shannen SP breaks down the artists, parties and sounds driving South Africa’s ever-evolving bass continuum.

Mzansi Bass is the first release in TraTraTrax’s new sampler series, featuring music by current and future trailblazers of South Africa’s club scene, including DJ Lag, Hennybelit and Jay Music. It isn’t an overview of a single sound but an essential temperature check of South Africa’s underground scene right now. With its title a catch-all descriptor for the endlessly mutating styles of bass-heavy rave music winding between (and beyond) gqom, amapiano, Bacardi house and other established subgenres, Mzansi Bass is a propulsive, low-end snapshot of nascent forms alchemising in real time – something the record’s curator Shannen SP explains is a product of daily life in South Africa.

“The project reflects the kind of sets I’ve been pushing for a while now,” says the London-based DJ and producer, a longtime advocate of Afro-diasporic club sounds with strong family ties to Johannesburg. “The through-line is that these sounds are all deeper, darker, heavier.” Ears piqued, we asked Shannen SP to tell us why we should be tuning into the emerging sounds of the South African underground.

For the uninitiated…

Mzansi Bass refers to the continuum of radical invention coming out of South Africa’s underground electronic music scene, with bass at its core. ‘Mzansi’ is a colloquial term for the region, and the project explores localised sounds, micro-genres, hybrids and subgenres that don’t have a name yet, born out of South Africa’s rich musical landscape.

The underground didn’t end with gqom

That’s very much not the case. It’s also not a standard I see other regions like Germany or the US held to. The underground is very much alive and goes beyond the mainstream amapiano you hear on TikTok or Instagram; there are a number of subgenres and styles that are offshoots of it, and people are making really exciting music that doesn’t get as much attention. The artists on the compilation are some of the most wildly creative and innovative talents I know. My aim is to share that.

Trancey rave synths are a really big thing

South African dance music has a very spiritual, entrancing side to it. The music is functional for dancers, physicality and moving your body. I think these elements, like trancey rave synths and loops, help in transporting people when they hear it.

Start with these artists…

Everyone on the compilation is super talented, but I’m excited to see the journey of younger artists like Hennybelit, an incredible producer, songwriter and vocalist who plays multiple instruments. Jay Music is pushing the boundaries of bass music with a sound that resonates across UK bass just as much as it does the South African diaspora scene. He has some explosive productions. Barbieszn is set for an iconic run, in my opinion; her pen is incredibly sharp and she’s only 19. She’s just featured on an Uncle Waffles and DJ Lag track alongside BXKS. It’s really nice to see this kind of cross-cultural experimentation happening.

… and then keep digging

I dig a lot. I’m in a bunch of WhatsApp groups and share music in my DMs. My favourite ‘platform’ for gqom at the moment is Unticipated Soundz’s Bandcamp. Straight out of Durban, it’s raw gqom or thayela – the original, spiritual, hardcore sound that made me fall in love with the genre in the first place. An artist making the darker, dubbed-out sounds I love is Dlala Thukzin. His music sits somewhere between 3-step and gqom, but he has a very clean, technical quality. His best productions are his more left-field projects like Permanent Music 3, or his collab with Funky Qla, Smoothie. He also has a track called iPlan, which is a very famous song in South Africa; it feels like this is what Burial would make if he were South African and producing 3-step. He has his own label called Dlala Records. I’d also like to shout out Omagoqa from Durban and Surreal Sessions from Cape Town.

Johannesburg is your first port of call

The underground queer scene is where I’ve heard the most exciting styles of gqom in Johannesburg. Parties like VNJ Ball, founded by Lelowhatsgood, have a really special energy, bringing together ballroom culture and gqom. Lelo is also an amazing DJ. Another party I love is Gqom Therapy, who do strictly gqom events across the country. There’s also Broke Klubhouse in Cape Town, they’re a cool collective. When I’m there, I’ll generally go to the raves where the DJs I love are playing; Johannesburg has some of the hardest working in the world and will play several times a week across the city. Even the really big ones.

Dance music is an everyday thing in South Africa

The relationship between underground and mainstream is quite different in South Africa, where dance music is deeply woven into everyday life. Sounds that might be considered niche or experimental elsewhere circulate through taxis, cafés, restaurants, neighbourhood spaces and local events long before they’re recognised by the music industry. One thing I find beautiful is that dance music is intergenerational in South Africa, so you’ll see people across generations enjoying new and emerging genres in a way I haven’t really seen in the UK.

Its club sounds never stop evolving

South Africa is one of the most innovative musical environments in the world. The speed at which sounds emerge, evolve and then spread is remarkable. Genres can be born, transformed and reimagined at such a fast pace. The level of creativity coming from young producers is extraordinary, and I think the global electronic music community is only just beginning to grasp the full scope of what’s happening there.