Music

Review

DBN Gogo brings amapiano to Somerset House, 13/07/24

The South African DJ and producer made her mark as the first amapiano headline act on the Summer Series line-up


Somerset House Summer Series has prided itself on bringing a multitude of genres and artists to the historic venue, and DBN Gogo’s headline set on Saturday 13 July was a celebration of just that. Joined on the line-up by fellow South African amapiano DJs Mellow & Sleazy, plus UK DJs Nicky Summers, Mixolis and Slow Poison, DBN Gogo’s Summer Series day was a platform for electronic music from the global Black diaspora. Fans danced to Afro house, Afro EDM, gqom, kwaito, amapiano and more, at the former palace on the Thames.

It’s no small fete to be the first amapiano DJ headliner for the Summer Series – a genre that emerged in the mid 2010s from townships in South Africa, blending jazzy piano riffs with charging log drums, and creating a globally infectious sound that is here to stay. And DBN Gogo is a DJ leading the charge; taking her name from her birthplace, Durban, DBN Gogo came onto the scene swinging with her platinum-selling debut single ‘Khuza Gogo’. While the song is not present in her closing DJ set, the MC of the show adds the lyrics to the chorus of ‘Khuza Gogo’ to the call and response chants that one would typically hear at an amapiano event. Along with the familiar “DJ, we wanna paaaartay” (changed to “Gogo, we wanna paaartay”), and “piano, piano!”, the MC weaves in “Everybody say ‘Khuza Gogo Khuza!'” throughout Mellow & Sleazy’s DJ set, and just before introducing DBN Gogo to primed, ready and ever-dancing audience.

After a journey through some of the biggest amapiano hits of the last few years, from ‘Wetsalang’ to ‘Sponono’ to ‘Funk 99’, DBN Gogo gives us meticulous mixes and blends of some of her latest songs from her most recent release, Clickbait – all without headphones. It’s a unique calling card for a DJ to be able to mix and spin live without headphones, proving not only her skill but her ear for musicality, something she has demonstrated since her early Boiler Room and Balcony Mix sets. Accentuating her impressive high-octane set are dance collective Thee Party, performing a combination of freestyles and choreography with all the familiar moves that one would see at a South African groove (or a viral TikTok).

As the sun set and her set came to a close, an emotional DBN Gogo left the DJ booth to accept her applause centre stage. As an African woman, it was a big moment for me, too, to see a genre native to the continent be accepted on such a global stage, and to see people of all backgrounds enjoying African music so openly and freely. This is surely not the last that Somerset House Summer Series will see of amapiano, and definitely not the last we’ll see of powerhouse DJ and producer DBN Gogo.


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Photo credit: Richard Thompson