Nozinja
The Bermuda Triangle, Brighton | 30 April
While Warp’s name has been built by a ruthlessly fearless approach to releasing electronic and experimental dance records since the beginning of the 90s, recent signing Nozinja can be said to be quite unlike anything that has previously appeared on the imprint.
The founder of Shangaan Electro and the man responsible for recording, producing and selling some of South Africa’s brightest talent, Richard ‘Nozinja’ Mthetwa may have built a reputation as a hard task master that prompted The Guardian to call him the ‘mobile phone shop repair magnate turned township Simon Cowell’ in an article last year, but tonight his set suggested passion and pride rather than racking up another zero on the end of a bank statement.
Having previously won praise from Damon Albarn and having half a dozen tracks on the 2010 Honest Jon’s compilation New Wave Dance Music from South Africa may have been the initial helping hand and generated some wider interest, but like Omar Souleyman, Nozinja is an ambassador for a genre; an educator that takes a traditional form of music out of Soweto, giving it a 21st century makeover and taking it to new audiences.
This is a pioneer, taking a traditionally inspired Tsongo sound and presenting it in new and engrossing ways, forging new shapes through his Soundboard, pushing the frenetic energy to ever faster tempos where synthesised marimbas that can hit 190bpm, and then coating it in an array of midi sounds.
But while it may be tempting to solely focus on the music, tonight in a narrow sea-facing room, the two dancers that accompany him on this short UK tour play a key role, sometimes lending their voices to the rapid rhythms being pumped out of the soundsystem. Tonight the two brightly-dressed dancers are the visual aid that induces a party spirit, where focus shifts from being entirely reliant on the beats, and becomes an experience that is felt. Embarking on extended hip-thrusting sessions, they occasionally encouraging people onstage to join them and help transform tonight into a communal affair.
Set closer and recent single Tsekeleke may have been the one familiar track known to everyone present, but tonight an equal number were assured that Nozinja has the capacity to awaken people to Shangaan’s long-lasting potency.
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Words: Nathan Westley
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