The Deeper the better. South Africa rocks out to the deepest of house music.

Charles Webster considered by many to be the one of the most talented house producers in the world, is one of a growing number of visiting DJs and producers (including Louie Vega, Frankie Knuckles, DJ Gregory, Dennis Ferrer, DJ Spinna and Osunlade) who have discovered a scene with an atmosphere and energy that is hard to match. While the rest of the world has seen house music stumble under the weight of commercialism and complacency, clubs in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town are brimming with people hungry for more.

We got in touch with Chucky Webster and got him to tell us a story.

The Story
“When I first went it was about five or six years ago and I was totally unaware of how it was going to be. I just got booked, turned up and then I’d play something like “Better Day” and I’ve never seen anything like it. I had no idea they were just going to scream. You know – people screaming so loud you can’t hear what you’re doing.”

Charles Webster, is talking about South Africa, a country he has since returned to a further five times to DJ in front of some of the most enthusiastic crowds he has ever experienced. There house music runs deep. “You can have a thousand people going crazy to Basic Channel,” he continues. “You know, really uber-deep.”

In South Africa, the 4/4 rhythm of house is everywhere. It echoes through the streets and clubs louder than r‘n’b or hip-hop. As Webster explains: “A friend of mine took me to see his family from Soweto, from the township, and all you hear coming out of peoples houses and cars is really nice deep house. There’s no hip-hop or drum and bass. You just hear good house music everywhere.”

It was house music that spawned Kwaito, a home-grown mish-mash of house rhythms, African melodies and township vocals. Full of attitude and spice, Kwaito is South Africa’s pop music, a melting pot of various styles all driven by a house beat. In the early nineties, the Kwaito pioneers were DJs like Oscar “Warona” Mdlongwa and Christos Katsaitis who started remixing international house tracks to give them a local feel, slowing the tempo down and putting in traditional melodies and percussion but maintaining the house groove. Other local artists followed suit, producing their versions and adding lyrics in tsotsitaal (township slang). Today, Kwaito artists such as Mzekezeke and TKZee are megastars with major label deals and their faces splashed across TV screens and glossy covers.

So how did house get so huge? Vinny Da Vinci is one of the biggest house DJs and producers in South Africa and is a partner in House Afrika (www.houseafrika.com), a Johannesburg record store and promotions outfit, and one of the first promoters to bring Charles to the country. “Before the club scene kicked off it was mainly house parties and groups of like-minded people getting together, buying music and sharing the knowledge. The most influential things were illegal taverns, which was basically a club in someone’s house, selling alcohol and playing music.”

“I’d say that the house scene came about around the mid 80’s in certain small crowds. That’s when the club scene started as well. DJs then were often guys who owned the taverns or guys in the know. You had guys like Correy, Static P, G-Force and a whole lot of others that I didn’t get to meet, meaning there were people in almost all the towns and cities who were pushing the movement.”

Nick Copham and Daniel Cuthbert are two ex-pats now based in London who run a website (www.deeper.co.za) dedicated to spreading the South African house gospel. Daniel’s introduction to house music was more influenced by the emerging rave scene in the UK. From there we started to see the South African scene develop, especially with the early raves in the country and then with the introduction of the first proper house club, 4th World (in downtown Johannesburg).

Regardless of how it may have arrived, the music gripped all sections of the country and its appeal grew without regard to race or social backgrounds. “The scene has always been multi-racial,” says Cuthbert. “That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about it. Who gives a shit what colour you are?” And even when the crowds aren’t mixed, the only important thing is the music. “In Pretoria it was 100% black,” says Webster, “you know, the club owners, the club staff, all the crowd – I was the only white person in the whole club without any doubt. That was probably one of the best gigs I’ve ever done down there. They were just so into it.”

However, in a country where many people earn very little, some people go to great lengths just to make sure they get to the party. “Yeah, they really save up money,” says Webster. “The clubs are the same price as they are in England but obviously people don’t earn the same as we earn here. “People will walk twenty miles just to get to the gig.” Nor is it easy for most people to get into DJing or even to buy records. “It’s like 8 quid for a twelve inch. You know that’s a lot in England – there it’s ridiculous. I know a couple of DJs over there and it’s a more expensive hobby than playing golf.”
The problem of expensive records has given rise to the phenomenon of the mix CD, a much more affordable way for fans to get their hands on their favourite tunes. Indeed, one compilation landed Webster a surprise hit in the shape of his track “Better Day” by Presence. “It was huge. They do compilations of deep house tracks - proper deep house tracks, not coffee table kind of stuff - and they’d go top ten. Whereas in England you wouldn’t even go top ten thousand with a compilation like that but over there they’d go in the proper charts. I suppose whereas people here would buy Ministry of Sound best dance anthems of the year, over there they tend to buy just deeper better stuff and yeah they’d get in the pop charts.”

“Actually the only commercial mix CD that I’ve ever done is specifically for South Africa as well. It was all really deep stuff – Larry Heard, Nick Holder…” I’m not really that interested in doing them - but having said that I am going to do my first proper worldwide one this year. And these mix CD’s certainly are popular - some House Afrika compilations have sold over 150,000 copies.

But even though people like to party, the scene remains relatively untainted by heavy commercial influences or other excesses common in Europe. “People go out to have fun,” says Da Vinci, “and yes they do drink, dress up and have a spliff or two, but I think it’s more about the music than anything else and it’s growing by the day. I don’t think that hard drugs have hit the scene yet, even though you’d read about incidents at some clubs and especially big events.” Webster agrees. “It’s a pretty pure scene for all the right reasons. There doesn’t seem to be a big drug scene, it’s not about getting drunk, it just seems to be based on the music.”

Make no mistake: there are plenty of commercial house clubs in South Africa, and trance and hard house are widely available if you so wish, but if you do manage to find a good deep house party, MAW, Kerri Chandler, DJ Gregory, this is the sort of stuff you can expect to hear, only perhaps a little slower than you’re used to. “We generally spin stuff with the decks in the minus part,” says Cuthbert, “anything from -1 to -8”. I guess we just prefer the sound to have a slower kick to it”

And of course, a certain Mr. Charles Webster has made a few popular tunes. “A lot of the time when you go, they just want you to play your own records. I hardly ever play loads of my own stuff because you’re bored of hearing it a lot of the time but when you’re there they just bug you for “Better Day” or whatever and it’s fantastically enjoyable. A lot of stuff that I’ve done, like the “Sad Piano” remix I did on Buzzing Fly, and a new thing I’ve just done for DJ Yellow’s label in France, is huge down there.” His advice is to keep it deep. “I’ve seen other DJs from Europe fall flat on their face because they’re just playing electroey kind of stuff and they just don’t seem very interested in it down there. I’ve seen people clear the dance floor completely with a couple of records. I’m sure they won’t do that again!”

With such a vibrant club scene, it is only a matter of time before more South African house artists start to make their mark outside their own country. “They’ve loads of great DJs and producers,” says Webster. “They have a lot of music that’s made down there that never makes it up to Europe or anywhere. I think that’s why they’re getting me in – they’re hoping to kind of break out of that and get an international release.”

Da Vinci lists off lots of local DJs and producers who are capable of making the breakthrough: “Christos, Oskido, Fresh, Mbuso, Uncle Terry, Monde, G-Force, Static P, Pepsi, Craig Massive, Ryan Dent, Octave… Man, the list is endless!”

“The scene is developing for the better,” he continues. “Every time an international DJ comes over, they take a lot of our music back with them to check out because I think they’ve realised that there’s something very unique about it. Hopefully one day something big is gonna come out of South Africa and I think it’s in the near future…”

Written by Steve McCullough

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Download an excelent kwaito house mix, mixed by Vinny da Vinci, here

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