The Gqom Oh! label was set up by Rome-based DJ and musician Nan Kole to highlight the music and artists of Durban, the often overlooked cradle of the new South African sound. The label’s 2016 compilation – ‘Gqom Oh! The Sound of Durban Vol.1’ – broke the sound out of South Africa, Pitchfork calling it ?The largest and most thoughtful survey of the genre available to western audiences to date?.
Recently joining Kole is Sboniso Brandon Luthuli aka Citizen Boy on the ground as local A&R. The EP’s A-Side is dedicated to two of the genre’s most prominent producers. DJ Lag is a frontrunner in pushing Gqom worldwide. Making music from a young age and building up a solid reputation in South Africa, he’s known as the “King of Gqom”.
Griffit Vigo, a real innovator in the Gqom genre, grew up in the same area as DJ Lag and has attained a legendary status amongst his peers. “When I was in Durban the first time I noticed that Griffit Vigo was a kind of legendary figure, he’d been inspiring all the Gqom Durban artists for a long time. Nobody knew where he was but everybody was playing him and sometimes using his beats to make new songs.
The main track ‘Ree’s Vibe’ was the peak moment of DJ Lag’s sets all over the world. If Lag is the Gqom King then Griffit Vigo is the Gqom Legend.” – Nan Kole Sbucardo is one of the most respected DJs around the streets and the townships of Durban. Featuring Abnormal on ‘Iphoyisa’, whose lyrics in Zulu translate to ?We at the club, Mr police man don’t disturb us”, the track represents the South African scene and Gqom culture in Durban very well. Naked Boyz (officially the first in Durban to explore new territories in broken beat in 2011) ‘Story Teller’ is characteristic of the Sgubhu style, a blend of Gqom with more conventional house sounds, the new genre taking over Durban and finding its way onto mainstream radio. Scene kingpins Rude Boyz round off the release’s vinyl line up of Gqom originators with ‘Umshunto’.
ALBUM: VA – The Originators
FORMAT: Mp3
QUALITY: 256 Kbps
LABEL: Gqom Oh!
YEAR: 2018
SIZE: 108.2 MB
TRACKLIST
- DJ Lag – Daisies
- DJ Lag – Momish
- Griffit Vigo – Gqomu 5
- Griffit Vigo – Rees vibe
- Naked Boys – Divorce
- Naked Boys – Story Teller
- Rude Boyz – Umshudo
- Sbucardo Da Dj – Ngwinyeleni
- Sbucardo Da Dj feat. Abnormal – IPhoyisa
