Nozinja on Shangaan Electro and signing to Warp

“Come on – let’s just do it!” Richard Mthethwa urges me over the phone. Mthethwa, more widely hailed as Shangaan Electro pioneer Nozinja, is pacing around Johannesburg in his native South Africa sorting out a visa ahead of his forthcoming European tour (including a date in Manchester on 24 Jul). He’s in a hurry, but anyone who’s heard Shangaan Electro, the hyperactive strain of ADD pop music that draws influence from native Shangaan traditions but pushes it up to a pulse-testing 180bpm, shouldn’t be surprised – working at pace seems to be Nozinja’s modus operandi.

The Skinny last spoke to Nozinja two years ago when, riding high on the back of support from Damon Albarn’s Honest Jon’s label, and Shangaan remixes by the likes of Theo Parrish and Actress, he brought a high energy showcase to the UK. Things haven’t slowed down, with his debut LP for Warp Records coming out last month; Nozinja Lodge is full of pitch-shifted vocal cutesiness, quick stick MIDI keyboards and hi-end rattle. The reputation of Warp needs no explanation within the UK, but for Nozinja it was just another avenue to continue spreading word of the Shangaan Electro phenomenon. “To be honest I didn’t know much about Warp,” he admits, claiming the approach came from his UK management, Qu Junktions. However, time spent listening to the label's catalogue since signing last year quickly made him feel that his minders had made the right call. “They’re very selective in the artists they pick, which is good. They know what they’re looking for.”

What they’ve found is something that, for much of the European dance scene, is highly refreshing, pulling sharply away from bass culture and pitching itself so far up the other end of the scale as to seem alien. It continues to catch on, and this time around Nozinja has added some major festival dates at Melt! in Germany and Belgium’s Dour Festival, as well as a show at the Barbican Centre in London. “For me it was about bringing something new for Europe’s ears and eyes,” he says. “And I think Shangaan came at the right time. People were looking for something new.”

Within his native South Africa it’s been a different story; the Soweto-based producer initially experienced rejection from his homeland’s music industry upon emerging towards the end of the last decade, subsequently taking on Shangaan Electro’s distribution mantle for himself through his own Nozinja Music imprint. He feels that it’s only been the spike in interest from outside his homeland that has moved things forward there: “It was appealing to the second culture of South Africa, through the other nations of people in the country,” he says, “but it didn’t go to the mainstream, white South Africans. Not that much. But now it’s starting to become a universal sound. It’s being incorporated into other people’s music; we’re even finding out that the radio stations, the people who never played our music, are now talking about Shangaan Electro. It’s great for us.”

As for his own ambitions, Nozinja aims to raise the profile for himself, the genre and subsequently the culture around Shangaan, although he shuts down a question about the financial sustainability of being an artist in South Africa by insisting “you do music because you love it, not for money” – not long after giggling that his dream is to be nominated for a Grammy. “I’m a man who always dreams, but I don’t like just dreaming at night,” he adds. “You dream at night, you wake up and forget everything you’ve dreamed of. I want to remember every dream I have.”

Whether he gains that Grammy nod or not, there’s a sense that Nozinja is already living out his dreams, which continue this summer. What can we expect of his return? “It’s a surprise!” he laughs loudly. “I’ve got a surprise for you, UK, you tell people: ‘Nozinja is coming!’”