Shangaan

I was on my usual tune hunting antics last week, and whilst checking out Boomkat came across their record of the week, a compilation released on Honest Jon's entitled ''Shangaan Electro - New Wave Dance Music From South Africa''.

After reading the praise laden review and listening to the three absolutely mental samples of the album I was really interested in finding out more about the style and what it is all about, and after a bit of investigation and scouting round Youtube the words the Boomkat reviewer rang true, as it all began to fall into place and make sense.

Like most people are pointing out, the comparisons between this style and the Juke sound coming out of Chicago can't be ignored, both in terms of the high speed tempo and in that both styles seem focused on making its listeners dance frenetically and more and more manic, with the main producer of the sound Nozinja, who's studio in Johannesburg is a creative hub for Shangaan artists summing it up well when he was quoted as saying "When you see them dance, you feel like they have got no bones".

Upon watching the video below I could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of joy and happiness that was being resonated through the dancers, who look quite simply like they don't have a care in the world bar making their dance moves even more intricate and amazing to watch. The sturdy stomping man who comes into play at 1:43 is my particular favorite, as he looks like he is completely and utterly immersed in a zone, just look at his expression.

There is no doubt there is a sense of madness running through the music, and some will argue that with its very high tempo and heavy use of Marimba's it can at times sound very cartoonish, however the same can not be said of many of the vocals, which, despite me not having a clue what most of the vocalists are singing about (only a few tracks are sung in English), sound absolutely incredible.

I haven't been this excited and moved by music in a good while, and the thing that excites me the most is that music hasn't lost the ability to surprise me in a way I wouldn't imagine possible, and that there are scenes like this and Juke popping up in specific areas across the world all the time, which are now much easier to discover thanks to the advance of the internet, and I can't wait to see what scene springs up next.

The ''Shangaan Electro - New Wave...'' album is released on July 6th on Honest Jon's records, you need to give it some of your time.