Relocating from Joburg to Durban has refuelled Afro-tech DJ and producer Kabzin’s passion for his craft.
That newfound magic will be heard on his upcoming single, Isibani, with Sheziie, out next month.
“We worked on our song last year and it was influenced by the sound I felt and found in Durban and I embedded it with the Kabzin magic,” he said.
“It’s something different, more like 3-step but tribal with a bit of gospel soul. We made it with a vocalist called Gugu Shezi.”
The 34-year-old admitted that he almost gave up on his career before his musical rebirth in Durban.
“[The city] has been lovely. I almost gave up until I came here; I realised that house music is here,” he said.
“Something is coming from Durban, which I don’t think people from Joburg are ready for.”
Kabzin’s musical influence comes from his father.
“My dad was a house music lover; I’d wake up every day to house music playing and with the undeniable popularity of house music, it grew in me even more,” he said.
“I then learnt how to DJ through listening to the genre and started DJing in 2010; it was very dominant at the time.”
The new single is something different, more like 3-step but tribal with a bit of gospel soul.
— DJ Kabzin
That early exposure shaped Kabzin’s musical ear.
“Afro-tech to me is like new-age house music, where most of us DJs gravitated,” he said.
For him, it’s less about trends and more about honouring a sound that raised him through tracks such as Zimbarisio, We Want to Bang, Imali and Messiah’s Boy.
Kabzin admits his journey hasn’t been easy.
“A slow pace does not always win the race,” he said.
Witnessing artists such as Black Coffee and Shimza rise to global recognition shaped his view of success.
“We grew up seeing the likes of Black Coffee and Shimza work very hard to get where they are and some of that influenced us without even realising it,” he said.
“The older generation has this mentality that things take time, but then, a young Gen Z gets in the game with a vibrant song and they glow and they surpass you.”
That type of trajectory has forced him to challenge his thinking of what growth looks like.
“I’m not saying this out of jealousy, but we’ve been programmed that good things take time and it’s a programme we need to unlearn,” he said.
“Gatekeeping is rife; everyone works with cliques. If not that, it’s how many followers you have on social media or how popular you are on social media. It’s not even about your music or how good you are as a DJ or a producer.”
“It’s also about who you know. The clubs [managers] want to make money off your following. Nobody cares about your music anymore, and that’s what’s sad.”
Now that he has found his footing in Durban, Kabzin’s dream collaborations are MaWhoo and Mpumi Somandla.
“In terms of producers, I would like to work with Culoe de Song. He and I would have proper conversations about the future and where house music can go,” he said.
