Z: I’m doing well, it has been a busy year, I am working on a lot of new projects that I’m super excited about.

Let’s jump right in! How did you come to link up with Bob Sinclair?

Z: And Friends reached out to us and said that he had this record by Bob Sinclair, Love Generation, which I grew up listening to, and they asked if we were interested, which of course we were and that’s where it all started. 

Tell us what that record means to you?

Z: This record means a lot to me, I remember it was one of those records from back in the day that made me fall involved with house and dance music, I live in South Africa so at the time what was on the radio was something different, we used to call this kind of sound “international” so the house music that was coming from outside of South Africa was called “international”, you could only hear these songs in the club or from the Djs at the time, you couldn’t hear them on the radio. This song is very nostalgic for me. I literally remember when I was at school and it was raining heavily, we were out on a school trip, a picnic during tertiary, and the Dj who was playing played Love Generation and we didn’t care about the rain, I remember everybody jumping in the rain with their T-shirts up dancing to that record, so it really means everything to me, I am very excited to be apart of such a record, it really means a lot to me. 

How does it feel to be a Grammy winner?

Z: To be a Grammy winner is a feeling I wish for everybody, I wish this feeling for every musician, being a Grammy winner is one of the best feelings you can ever have, being on that stage, that is the loudest microphone I have ever been in, the grammy microphone, with media from around the world. It is a feeling that I can’t even explain. 

Tell us about your hometown, your roots, your upbringing that shaped you and the artist you are today?

Z: I was born in Durban, South Africa, I grew up in a very dangerous township, I was born during apartheid so I have some very rough memories growing up but there was music all around, there were protest all round but you would hear the music first and then you would know there were protest going on, I grew up in that situation. My mother was a teacher and she had a gospel group that she used to manage, they would sing at church, funerals, and parties, I think that’s when I fell involved with music and that was really what I wanted to pursue. I went to study music, I have a degree in jazz and popular music from the University of KwaZulu Natal , in South Africa. I fell involved with music because it was a way of communicating our pain and the pain of my elders at that time, they would communicate it through music. I grew up hearing a lot of sad songs, there were serious wars happening at that time during the transition of South Africa about to be a free country and no longer an apartheid regime. I was a teenager when  South Africa had its first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela and the country was vibrant and full of music. 

What would you say the scene in South Africa is like today? How has it changed, if at all and for the better?

Z: South Africa arguably has some of the best DJs and producers, the music that has come out of South Africa is really really amazing, I hear songs being played in Europe especially when its afro house/tech house and they do not finish a set without playing a song produced or coming from South Africa, so I think we really have dominated the sound because we really are a dancing nation with so many producers in the country so the music scene is just amazing, we have dance properties and dance parties which attract thousands of people. I have a stadium show in Cape Town that hosts 15000 people, and other South African DJs also put on their own shows which host tons of people. So dance music in South Africa is like pop, it’s on television, it’s on radio stations, DJs are on billboards. The dance scene is crazy.

How would you describe your sound and what are you trying to convey with it?

Z: I would like to call my sound dance music, I don’t really want to put it in a box, I just want to call it to dance, I think I borrow from EDM and tribal house, I try to strike a balance using these two and creating a very melodic call and response kind of approach on the songs when I decide to do vocals, so some call it an afro house, some call it afro tech because of the tech synthesizers that we are using that we have borrowed from the EDM scene, but just enough for us to still have the soul within the music and also have a danceable BPM so that you are still able to move, it’s not too fast and it’s not too slow, maybe between 118bpm and 125bpm, that’s where we usually play around, even 125 is quite fast when you produce the music, so mostly 118 to 123. That is basically how I would describe my sound, it is a very soulful sound, very futuristic but very African at the same time.

What is your studio set up like? You are a multi-instrumentalist so must have quite the set up?

Z: If playing two instruments makes you a multi-instrumentalist then I am, I am a base player and a piano player and I also do vocals. I have a nice setup in Durban, it is a studio setup in a six-bedroom house, I use that house as an incubator as well so many upcoming artists that I am mentoring live there until they find their feet and become superstars, one of the notable guys right now who is doing well is Karyendasoul who has come from that setup, he lived in studio and we did so many songs with him and he is enjoying a lot of success now. We have about 5 producers and three top line song writers, it really is like a machine, it is a very collaborative process, we run FL, logic and Reason and we are quite happy with our setup. 

Who has been your biggest musical inspiration? What artists do you look up to?

Z: My biggest music inspiration as a musician would be Fela Kuti, the Nigerian superstar, that’s who I borrow a lot of inspiration from. 

What are your three essential tracks right now?

Z: Osama – Zakes Bantwini, Da Capo – Make love not war, Karyendasoul – Umoya.

What advice would you give to up and coming producers?

Z: If I had to advise producers right now I would say that they just need to hone their skills, I think people are so quick to release music and they are not really paying attention to honing their skills and making sure that their skills are sharp, its so easy to release music now, you can literally just upload music using different dsp’s that are available. I would really just say that you should hone your skills and don’t be in a hurry to put out anything, just make sure that when you put out something that you put out something that you are proud of and don’t listen to people telling you what to do and what not to do, do something that comes from your heart, be honest with your music and don’t follow trends, just be you, everybody else is taken, just be you and do amazing production, that will inspire someone like myself who has been in the game for a long time. Just come in and claim your space but don’t be in a hurry.

What do you like to do to relax outside of the studio and music in general?

Z: I travel a lot, doing shows, performing, so in my spare time I like to spend my time with my family, my wife and my kids, being with them is how I relax.

What has the rest of the year got in store for you?

Z: I have a couple of shows coming up, I am on tour,I am doing Burning man, I am also going to London, Bali and Singapore. I have a big show that I am doing in Cape Town on the 16th of December, around 15000 people, I am really looking forward to that. The festive season in Africa is in summer so that is something else to look forward to, there will be a lot going on. I will be dropping a couple of songs while I am on tour, Love generation has just dropped and I will be dropping at least two more songs before the year ends.

What was the last record that blew you away?

Z: The last record that really blew me away was Osama – Zakes Bantwini, Imali – Karyendasoul & Zakes Bantwini and Asanda – Kususa, Argento Dust & Zakes Bantwini, they are really special to me.