LISTEN: Thebe Mogane believes Kwaito is resurging

Kwaito legend and pioneer Thebe Mogane is celebrating 30 years in the music industry.

Listen below:

Mogane first got into the music scene in high school and went on to do sound engineering and producing.

Many people may not know that, early in his career, Mogane was also a club DJ.

“I was playing R&B, house and hip hop… we started including local house and figured I can do this, this sounds interesting.”

– Thebe Mogane

He says seeing the genre grow over the years has been tremendous to witness and be part of.

Kwaito was at its peak before social media, so artists had to work harder to get their music out there and grow their audience.

“When we were starting out, we knew we were going to get paid, but we didn’t know we could make a career out of it… There was no social media, so that fame was when you were on stage and you see people reacting to you… fame to us is something different to what it is now.”

– Thebe Mogane

He says kwaito has seen a significant resurgence as more people rediscover and discover the genre. 

Newer artists and DJs have also been including kwaito influences in their work.

“Kwaito is on a resurgence [right now]. This past December I have been the busiest that I have been in my whole career… I did a lot of kwaito shows more than when I’m mixed with other people.”

– Thebe Mogane

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the discussion.