African electronic music has spent the last decade reshaping dancefloors worldwide — gqom out of Durban, amapiano out of Pretoria, kuduro out of Luanda, and Afrobeats radiating out of Lagos and Accra into clubs everywhere. These five mixes are our pick of the sets that show what that sounds like at full length, in the hands of DJs who grew up with it.
Lumping an entire continent of genres into one list is never ideal, and this isn’t a definitive anything. It’s five mixes we keep coming back to, each one a doorway into a scene worth following properly.
Shannen SP
Up first is London-based Hyperdub affiliate Shannen SP, who delivers an Afrocentric techno mix for DJ Mag’s Recognise series.
The mix pulls in tarraxo, kuduro, gqom, amapiano and even acid-dancehall, featuring tracks by Nazar ft Shannen SP, Dj BeBeDeRa, DJ Doraemon, Swordman & Tom Blip, Hitmakerchinx, Ghost, Esa, Vigro Deep, Lechuga Zafiro, Griffit Vigo, Scratchclart, Citizen Boy, Woza Sabza, F5, DJ Ni**a Fox, Shinedoe, Herva, Cygnus, Nazar, Dj Laton, PML Beatz, J-Lin and RP Boo.
Gafacci
Next is Gafacci’s mix for Resident Advisor, showcasing music from the producers and artists breathing life into the Ghanaian scene. One of Ghana’s most innovative producers of the past five years, Gafacci fuses Kpanlogo rhythms with electronic elements to “create a sound that I know will be appealing globally.”
The mix features tracks by Juls, Montefiori Cocktail and Gafacci.
Griffit Vigo
Griffit Vigo is a pioneer of Durban’s club scene and one of the originators of gqom — the high-energy, rhythmically off-kilter sound out of South Africa whose impact on global electronic music has been enormous. In his own words, the set is about “taking the listener on a musical journey from the intro, the body of the mix until it finally reaches its climax at my Gqom anthem ‘Ree’s Vibe’!”
Full tracklist
- Black Motion – ‘I Wanna Be’ feat. Kabza De Small, DJ Maphorisa, Brenden Praise
- Eltonnick – ‘Hunting’
- Griffit Vigo – ‘Venom’
- Blaq Cat – ‘Izabelo’
- Griffit Vigo – ‘Igilikidi’
- Dj Amenisto – ‘Double Period’ feat. Deep Narratives
- Griffit Vigo – ‘Run’
- Rudeboyz – ‘Sambuka Dance’
- Griffit Vigo – ‘Jungle Fever’
- Zuri – ‘Ingozi’
- Griffit Vigo – ‘Ree’s Vibe’
Phelimuncasi
Phelimuncasi bring a deep, heavy-hitting gqom mixtape for the Crack series. According to the trio, elements of their sound hark back to toyi toyi protests in South Africa, where vocals and dance were both used to intimidate police and to convey a message to the government during a climate of political unrest.
Featuring tracks by DJ Fresca & Kudoskelem, Phelimuncasi and Babes Wodumo.
Juba
Our final mix comes from British-Nigerian DJ Juba, recorded for DJ Mag’s Fresh Kicks series. It features masterful record selection and juxtaposition of styles, taking in Afrobeats, kuduro, gqom and amapiano alongside bass-heavy club sounds and acid. “Hearing music principally out of Ghana and Nigeria being celebrated instilled a sense of pride in us kids, who had grown up in a country where being African had never been cool. This had a big impact on my musical trajectory; I became engrossed.”
Featuring tracks by Badsista, Naira Marley and Jobe London.
If these landed, our pick of the best Latin DJ mixes runs a similar route through reggaeton, dembow and Brazilian funk — and the mixes we rate above all others covers the wider canon.