Five albums into his career and DJ Bongz is just warming up.
That’s evident on his latest and fifth album, ‘Spacebongz’, which is further proof that DJ Bongz evolves his sound with each of his releases. It also shows, in brilliant style, that he’s capable of producing, hands-down, just about the best, original dance album released into the South African market in any given year. And with DJ Bongz, the emphasis is always on the word original.
For this proudly Durban creative talent, stringing together a brace of international club-fillers and adding in a handful of original tracks is not what gets him up in the morning.
Instead, as ‘Spacebongz’ shows, Bongani “DJ Bongz” Dlamini is driven to create a sound that’s all his own – with the help of some sterling creative collaborators.
Among these is Male2 whose gorgeous vocals are helping the opening two tracks of the album take flight up the radio charts and into people’s hearts. Both “Letting Go” and “Fly Away” deliver close-to-perfect listening in the astute combination of a sophisticated musical bed with a dreamy female vocal, turning this musical double into surefire dancefloor fillers and radio smash hits.
The worldclass sheen on the singles “Letting Go” and “Fly Away” are courtesy of longtime DJ Bongz collaborator, Sandile “TKO” Nugubane who both produces and writes the music for the songs, as well as several others on ‘Spacebongz’. One of these is the heavy-hitter “Helele Hom” featuring Ndumiso on the vocals. The track is yet more proof of DJ Bongz’s ability to work with just the right people to create globally accessible, yet intrinsically South African, dance music. Indeed, over albums like debut ‘No Retreat, No Surrender’, ‘Sthandwa Samm’, ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and ‘Santana’ it’s clear that this is the direction that DJ Bongz is headed, with the help of some of South Africa’s most gifted music creators.
“I don’t want to be all about music that you can get anywhere else in the world,” Bongz confides. “On this album I really wanted to create music that can speak to the fans here in South Africa but in a way that is very easy for outsiders to listen to and dance to.”
As is evidenced by the rapturous response to the first two singles “Letting Go” and “Fly Away” DJ Bongz has more than succeeded in this mission.
He’s also made good on his promise to fans made earlier in 2009 that “they will have something hot to dance to this festive period”. A track like “Do What You Want”, produced by Manqoba Mntungwa is headed straight for the clubs and house parties that are already blowing up all over the country as it heads towards the end of a particularly hard year. And there’s plenty more where that come from: “To Start a Party” featuring DJ Twitty is a stormer of a track that is as unforgettable as it is fresh sounding and it’s sure to be a hot favourite of many DJ Bongz fans. And “Emabalabala Sinje” delivers a hypnotic sound that’s matched only by the likes of “Red Indian” which features DJ Bongz on vocals.
Over the years DJ Bongz has become adept at spotting talent and it’s no surprise to find ‘Spacebongz’ littered with some top-drawer vocal collaborations. Alongside Male2, Ndumiso and DJ Twitty is Nana and Langz – and together these vocal talents add to the impact of an album that has all the makings of another platinum seller for this Durban-based talent.
DJ Bongz’s ear for a hot producer, songwriter and singer has led to the creation of his own Emabalabala Entertainment which recently entered a partnership with Sony with the first release out of the deal being DJ Amenisto’s debut album, ‘DJ Amenisto Verse 1’.
“I’m very excited about the new relationship that we have,” DJ Bongz says of his new deal.
Adding to DJ Bongz’s appeal is his popularity as a club DJ which has seen him establish himself as a real force on the busy Durban dance scene in amongst some strong competition from the likes of Tira, Sox, China Man, Sndara, Twitty and more.
DJ Bongz first came onto the formal DJ circuit in Durban in 2001, and rapidly began showing an enviable work ethic that saw him climb the ranks in the coastal city. He’d honed it since 1995 in the township of Kwandegezi, just outside of Durban where Bongz was a regular at parties, weddings and beauty shows, playing kwaito and R&B. “I started playing at house parties,” Bongz says, “and from there I guess word of mouth meant that I began getting calls to DJ at beauty competitions and other events. From there I moved into clubs and I haven’t looked back.” Ask Bongz what makes him stand out as a DJ and he points to his incredible energy which takes him from behind the 1,2s to the dancefloor, joining the punters in being at one with the beat. “I often leave the decks and get onto the dancefloor and I think that people notice that – they can see that I am just as much into the music as they are and that I am not just doing this for money.”
It’s also Bongz’s uncanny knack for knowing what a particular crowd wants to hear and his feel for a superb beat, melodies even that turned him into a drawcard in Durban initially – and now a nationwide dance music star. As ‘Spacebongz’ proves, DJ Bongz has been able to transfer this incendiary energy and innate feel for what people want to hear out of the clubs and into the studio. He’s now one of the country’s biggest drawcards, both at radio, at retail and in clubs. But through it all DJ Bongz remains a Durban boy at heart – happy to give his fellow Kwa-Zulu Natalians a platform on which to showcase their talent.
“I grew up in Durban – this is my city and I love it,” Bongz says. “It’s great to have made another album that shows the rest of the country that Durban really is a music force to be reckoned with.”
