Various - Shangaan Electro (New Wave Dance Music From South Africa) 2LP

If ‘Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa’ is on the stereo I will not be able to stop myself from proclaiming it the best and most enjoyable compilation of music created this side of the y2k bug! 

Recorded between 2006 and 2009 in the Nozinja studio in Soweto, South Africa, the Shangaan sound is considered traditional music in the region, adding a 70bpm or so increase and idiosyncratic selection of digital instruments to the Shangaan Disco music of the 1980s. It’s a truly joyful and infectious sound!!!!

Shangaan Electro is a great example of how the most exciting and “new” feeling music of the 21st century more likely evolved out of longstanding regional folk traditions than from “creatives” self consciously positioning themselves as hyper-contemporary and future facing. - Nic