DJ Okapi

DJ Okapi digs up rare vinyl in Johannesburg and brings a forgotten era of South African pop back to life: the synth-driven disco-funk of the eighties known as bubblegum, and the house-inspired kwaito grooves of the early nineties. He connects those sounds to their contemporaries elsewhere in Africa and its diaspora. Since 2009 his Afrosynth blog has turned a new generation of listeners worldwide on to South African records that were barely heard outside the country at the time. Afrosynth has since grown into a physical record store in downtown Johannesburg and the reissue label Afrosynth Records, and his work has also appeared on Rush Hour, Soundway and Cultures Of Soul. He played Dekmantel Selectors in 2017.