South African dance music has changed dramatically since DJ Zinhle first stepped behind the decks. So has she.
The sounds have multiplied, the audiences have expanded and women who were once made to justify their place in DJ booths are now headlining international stages.
Against that backdrop, DJ Zinhle has chosen to look backwards, returning to Afro-house with her new self-titled EP, ZINHLE.
However, this is not nostalgia for an earlier version of herself. After more than a decade in the industry, the DJ is approaching the sound with a confidence she said she did not have when she was first finding her feet.
Speaking to The National, she spoke about longevity, creative freedom and what happens when an artist stops worrying about keeping up with the next big sound.
Growth and Freedom
The most obvious difference between the DJ Zinhle of ZINHLE and the artist who first made her name, she shared, is confidence.
“When I started, I was still discovering who I was as an artist. I loved Afro-house and I knew how the music made me feel, but I was also finding my place in the industry. With ZINHLE, I’m not searching anymore. I know who I am.”
That certainty has changed the way she approaches music. The DJ said she is less concerned with predicting what might become a hit and more interested in making music that feels honest and connects with people.
The EP carries the spirit of the DJ Zinhle listeners first fell in love with, but with “more freedom, maturity and intention”.
It is a return; but not in an attempt to recreate the artist she was when first establishing herself.
That distinction matters when longevity is considered in an industry that is constantly asking artists to become something new.
“I’m proud that I stayed,” Zinhle said.
Legacy
Her idea of legacy has little to do with records or awards. It is about remaining in an industry long enough to build something that lasts. She is proud that a young woman can look at her career and see that being a DJ can be a real career, one that can include headlining festivals, making records, building businesses, raising a family and continuing to evolve.
Zinhle’s idea of longevity also raises a broader question about the place of Afro-house in a rapidly changing South African dance music landscape. ZINHLE arrives at a moment when the genre is negotiating nostalgia and survival.
After Amapiano’s dominance and the emergence of newer sounds, what does it mean for one of Afro-house’s architects to return to the sound that helped establish her?
Returning to Afro-house does not mean competing with what came after it. She sees room for different sounds to exist alongside one another, particularly as younger artists continue to push at the boundaries between genres.
“South African music keeps reinventing itself because every generation respects what came before but isn’t afraid to challenge it. I don’t know exactly what the next sound is going to be, and I love that,” she said.
That generational shift is something Zinhle has watched from behind the decks. When she started, she recalled, seeing a woman behind the decks was still treated as unusual and women often had to prove that they belonged in the space.
Building on next generation
Today, artists such as Uncle Waffles and DBN Gogo are touring internationally, building audiences beyond South Africa and taking the country’s dance music to new markets.
Their success, Zinhle said, is not only a reflection of how far those individual artists have come, but of the doors that previous generations helped open.
“I love watching artists like Uncle Waffles and DBN Gogo take the music around the world because their success belongs to them, but it also shows how far the entire ecosystem has come.”
She sees the progression as generational.
“Every generation opens another door. Women before me opened doors that allowed me to dream bigger. My generation pushed some of those doors further open, and now this generation is taking things to places we couldn’t even imagine.”
She is equally interested in what that generation is doing to the music itself. Working with younger artists and producers while making ZINHLE has reminded her that experience does not mean she has stopped being a student.
The mother of two described a fearlessness in younger musicians who are less concerned with where one genre ends and another begins. They experiment, mix sounds and surprise her, and that energy has given her a renewed sense of freedom.
“I can bring everything I’ve learned over the years into a room, but a young producer can play me something I’ve never heard before and completely change the direction of a song,” she shared.
There is perhaps no better example of why Zinhle feels comfortable returning to Afro-house than “Baba Yilwa”.
The lead single from her EP reportedly spent 11 weeks on South African radio and surpassed 11 million streams, giving her a reminder that audiences do not necessarily abandon a sound simply because another genre has taken over the conversation.
“Baba Yilwa reminded me that people don’t necessarily fall in love with genres, they fall in love with how music makes them feel,” she said.
The response gave her confidence going into ZINHLE and reinforced her belief that Afro-house does not need to compete with Amapiano or whatever comes next. It can exist alongside newer sounds, evolve with them and continue finding new audiences.
“There is enough room for all of us,” she said.
nomathamsanqa.sithathu@nationalmg.co.za