“Because of our history, we sing and we dance,” says Themba. “It’s our getaway from everything.”
Music has been the renowned South African DJ and producer’s getaway since he was 11, when he started avidly collecting it. Any music: rock, hip-hop, European house, jazz, soul, it didn’t matter. Nor did the format. “Cassettes, CDs, vinyl, whatever medium, whatever music, I collected it,” he enthuses from a restaurant in Johannesburg, before popping another forkful of delicious-looking beef rib into his mouth. As well as enjoying the music, he would devour the sleeve notes as a further means of escape. “I love the discovery of it, reading about who worked on a song — producers, studios and engineers, just building my level of intel.”
Because of the “dynamics of apartheid at that time in 1991”, Themba was the only Black student in his school. “It seemed normal to me then. It was only when I was older that I understood the history of South Africa; understood how different my upbringing was,” he says. “I would be lying if I said I couldn’t sense the tension and racism towards me. It was just different.”
Themba grew up in the townships on the eastern side of Johannesburg. He had proud parents who’d managed to work their way out of poverty. His father had a Ph.D. in industrial psychology and believed academic achievement was the only way out, so he was incredibly strict with Themba when it came to school. The thing is, he didn’t fit in at school. His life in the townships was at odds with his white school peers who came up in the more affluent suburbs. Fortunately, music provided a common link in the playground.