DJ Okapi

Buy vinyl

AFS056 PT House - Big World

One of South Africa’s biggest independent labels for decades, the Music Team catalogue spanned all genres and markets in the country’s rich and varied industry. When it came to the disco sound popular in the late 80s and early 90s, artists in the stable had access to top studios, musicians and producers with an ear on the latest trends, as well as distribution via a number of Music Team imprints - CTV, Red Label, Spinna, Mambo Music, Solid and others. Run by Maurice Horwitz, Music Team gave talented working musicians a shot at stardom. Those who tasted success would typically release a few albums over as many years before moving on either to other labels or falling off the radar as times changed. 

Compiled here then are six tracks from the Music Team catalogue, originally released in South Africa between 1986 and 1992. Three are by popular male crooners Isaac ‘Cool Cat’ Mofokeng (‘Candy’), Linda Olifant (‘I Won’t Let You Go’) and Jappie Lebona (‘My Love is Yours) and are typical of the label’s take on the ‘bubblegum’ sound of the day, along with a slower groove by female singer Thandi Zulu (aka TZ Junior), ‘Instant Love (Eyami Lendoda)’. Two instrumentals — Mr. Ace’s ‘Ace 1’ and ‘Axe Chop’ by The Hard Workers, a popular studio project by Music Team’s in-house producer Tom Mkhize — meanwhile hint at the imminent rise of house and kwaito. All were forged in the fire of a cruel and volatile political system that was quickly unravelling - but instead of addressing the political realities of the day sought to provide listeners with an escape to a world where love and music were all that mattered.

Compiled with DJs and dancefloors in mind, Afrosynth Records’ Music Team Sampler dusts off some rare and long-forgotten gems and makes them available for a new audience.

A1 Isaac ‘Cool Cat’ Mofokeng - Candy  5:28
A2 Mr. Ace - Ace 1  4:34
A3 Linda - I Won’t Let You Go  5:19 

B1 Jappie Lebona - My Love Is Yours  5:52
B2 The Hard Workers - Axe Chop  2:59 
B3 Thandi - Instant Love (Eyami Lendoda)  5:00

AFS045 VA - Music Team Sampler

Adey Omotade, a sound artist and cultural cartographer rooted in Lagos and shaped by diasporic experiences in Paris, Johannesburg, Berlin and Ivory Coast, brings a rare sensibility to this work: walking between worlds, bringing with him the cadence of home and the dissonance of diaspora. In his hands, sound becomes ritual: a migration of soul, an assemblage of bells, melodies and chants woven from Ifa shrines, river banks and Yoruba festivals. Playing the dual role of griot and cartographer, Omotade, who works across acoustic ecology, experimental music and sound design, builds each track like a shrine: layered, intentional, alive with breath and blood, each track a libation, each break an invocation. Each track unfurls like aso-oke, the celebratory fabric of the Yoruba people: drums that speak in polyrhythms, synths bending like waves, incantations layered like memory, fading then returning, gently like the water at the banks of the Osun River. 
The influence of experimental sound design is evident throughout, but ‘Ni'ran’ is no cold abstraction. It pulses with life, with the heartbeat of talking drums, the breath of ambient textures and the warmth of the voices of babalawos, priests of Ifa, invoking ire (blessings) on all. ‘Oori : Ogbe’ invokes the sacred Odu Ifá — a divination verse that speaks of beginnings, clarity and destiny. In ‘Ofo : 'Nkantation’, polyrhythms unfold like verses, each beat a coded message inviting listeners to reflect on destiny and alignment.The title track ‘Ęęro : Eeşu’ begins with the haunting voice of a priest reciting the Odu Ifá, a calling to give unto Eesu his due. Percussive patterns unfold like verses, each beat both a memory and a prayer.

Pre-order AFS060

AFS060 Adey Omotade - Ęęro : Eeşu

Afrosynth Records is a Johannesburg-based record label and store. Digging up rare grooves in the city of gold, DJ Okapi brings a forgotten era of South African pop music back to life. Listen to his mix featuring a few tracks by South African disco star Kamazu at 10 am + pm CET. 

#KioskRadio #Outsiders21 #StayConnected

🄾🅄🅃🅂🄸🄳🄴🅁🅂 

🌐 "Outsiders" is our daily show hosted by global independent record labels 
📡 Connect with the Outsiders, every day, at 10 am or 10 pm CET
🔗 kioskradio.com

Outsiders: Afrosynth Records w/ DJ Okapi ft. Kamazu @ Kiosk Radio 30.03.2021

Composed by Ernest & Shadrack Ndlovu
Produced by Taso Stephanou
Mixed by Dane Stevenson
From the 1985 album 'Taduma' (Blue Tree) 
Reissue coming soon on Afrosynth Records - AFS053

'Mapantsula' - E & S Brothers

Afrosynth is back with DJ Okapi today focusing on the legendary eighties bubblegum singer and label affiliate Ntombi Ndaba.

🄾🅄🅃🅂🄸🄳🄴🅁🅂

🌐 "Outsiders" is our daily show hosted by global independent record labels
📡 Connect with the Outsiders, every day, at 10 am or 10 pm CET
🔗 https://kioskradio.com

Outsiders: Afrosynth w/ DJ Okapi feat. Ntombi Ndaba @ Kiosk Radio 30.07.2021

Thembelihle Dunjana : keys and vocals
From the album Inyatyambo Pt. 1 (℗ 2020 Thembelihle Dunjana)
'New Horizons: Young Stars of South African Jazz Vol.2' out on 28 Sept 2021 and digitally from 15 Oct 2021 - pre-order AFS051 here: www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/new-horizons-2-0

A1. Thembelihle Dunjana - Pressin' On

E & S Brothers’ 1985 album Taduma holds a unique yet overlooked place in the history of South African dance music.  When Shadrack Ndlovu and Ernest Segeel teamed up with Dane Stevenson, owner of Blue Tree Studio in downtown Johannesburg, and journeyman producer Taso Stephanou, South Africa’s bubblegum era had just begun, spurred on by the success of Shangaan disco. The relative success of their debut 12” ‘Don’t Bang The Taxi Door’, marketed aggressively at taxi ranks throughout the country, helped put the Blue Tree label on the map and E & S were invited back to record a full album: Taduma, featuring on keyboards Dr Buke, an in-demand session player from Soweto.

Rooted in Africa, yet purely electronic, Taduma was a moderate hit, spurred by tracks like ‘Taxi Door’ and ‘Mhane’, its hypnotic refrain ‘Mhane, famba na wena’ meaning ‘Mother, I am going to you’. Other tracks like ‘Mapantsula’ and ‘Be Careful’ place Taduma within the street-savvy ‘pantsula’ style and dance synonymous with consecutive waves of music from disco to kwaito, house and beyond, while ‘Sikele Masike’ repurposes a traditional Shangaan work song. Vocally E & S are closer to rapping than singing, in a combination of English and vernacular – predating other credited pioneers of kwaito in SA like Senyaka and Spokes H. Driving the music instead of vocals are waves of searing synths over rudimentary but explosive drum machine sounds – the word ‘Taduma’ meaning the sound of the drum.

Remastered from the original tapes and reissued for the first time, pre-order Taduma (AFS053) here: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/taduma

'Mhane' - E & S Brothers

From the album 'Umakhulu' (AFS052)

Ayanda Sikade on Drums
Nduduzo Makhathini on Piano
Simon Manana on Alto Sax
Nhlanhla Radebe on Bass

Produced by Ayanda Sikade
Recorded by Peter Auret at Sumo Sound
Mixed and Mastered by Gavan Eckhart at Soul Fire Studios
Artwork: Michael MacGarry
Cover photo: Vuyo Giba

© Ayanda Sikade 2021/22
℗ Afrosynth Records 2021/22 - www.afrosynth.com

Distributed by Rush Hour, Amsterdam - www.rushhour.nl https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/umakhulu

Umakhulu

'Imithandazo Yeengelosi' (prayer of angels) - Ayanda Sikade

TZ Junior - 'Sugar My Love' (1985)

(Gamble, Huff) Mighty Three Music

© 1991 ON RECORD
℗ 2023 AFROSYNTH RECORDS

Out in mid-2023 on Afrosynth Records, distributed by Rush Hour.
Pre-order here: www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/living-city-1

Living for the City

'Love is the Message' - Citi Express

Instead of following trends, DJ Okapi has made it his mission to preserve and share a forgotten era of South African pop music, specifically the infectious sounds of synth-fuelled ‘80s ‘bubblegum’ disco and the house-driven kwaito grooves of the ‘90s. DJing since the early 2000s, Okapi started Afrosynth as a blog documenting his record collection. From 2016 to 2000 he ran a record store in downtown Johannesburg. Afrosynth now functions primarily as a reissue label, putting out classic South African sounds, as well as new jazz, via Rush Hour in Amsterdam. In the process he has helped bring artists like Ntombi Ndaba and Kamazu back to the international stage. Recently returned to Cape Town, the city of his birth, after more than a decade in Johannesburg, Okapi has shared his unique and soulful sound throughout Europe as well as Asia and Brazil. He has also compiled popular vinyl collections of South African music for Rush Hour, Soundway and Cultures of Soul.

DJ Okapi (Afrosynth Records)

Composed by D. Bridgens/N. Mohale
Published by Roi Music
Produced by D. Bridgens
Recorded at Kitchen Sync, Johannesburg
Engineered & mixed by D. Bridgens
© 1991 AZANIA RECORDS/MUSIC TEAM
℗ 2024 AFROSYNTH RECORDS

Distributed by Rush Hour - pre-order AFS056 here: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/pt-house

Big World

Pre-order

'Big World' - PT House

Composed by D. Bridgens/N. Mohale
Published by Roi Music
Produced by D. Bridgens
Recorded at Kitchen Sync, Johannesburg
Engineered & mixed by D. Bridgens
© 1991 AZANIA RECORDS/MUSIC TEAM
℗ 2024 AFROSYNTH RECORDS

Distributed by Rush Hour - pre-order AFS056 here: www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/pt-house

2024

'Rebatla Muzik' - PT House

05/04/24

'Qinisela' - PT House

(T. Mkhize) Kato Music
From AFS045
© Music Team/CTV 1987
℗ Afrosynth Records 2024

pre-order here: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/music-team-sampler

'Candy' - Isaac 'Cool Cat' Mofokeng

(H. Lebona) Roi Music
From AFS045
© Music Team/Spinna 1986
℗ Afrosynth Records 2024

pre-order here: www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/music-team-sampler

'My Love Is Yours' - Jappie Lebona

🍿 Full hour episode now streaming on YouTube:

Ep09: DJ Okapi

DJ Okapi, founder of Afrosynth Records, is widely respected as one of the key figures preserving South Africa’s electronic, bubblegum, and kwaito heritage. More than a DJ, he’s an archivist and connector, unearthing lost South African sounds from the ’80s and ’90s while championing a new wave of local jazz artists — like Mabuta and Ayanda Sikade — through his New Horizons compilation series, pressed on vinyl and distributed worldwide by @rushhourrecords in Amsterdam.

Afrosynth began as a blog in 2009–2010, with deep dives into disco, funk, bubblegum, and early kwaito that helped put these sounds back on the map for collectors, DJs, and reissue labels globally. The label naturally grew from that archival work.

A vital connector and collector, Okapi ran the legendary Afrosynth record shop in downtown Johannesburg before returning to Cape Town, where you’ll now find him DJing at venues like Gorgeous George and The Commons, or digging up vinyl treasures at local record fairs. His sets are living archives — a dance floor journey through priceless holy grails and bargain-bin surprises, all stitched together with groove and deep knowledge

Instagram: https://bit.ly/46XFcCl
Afrosynth Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/4m6g9kP
Afrosynth Soundcloud: @afrosynth 
Afrosynth blog: https://bit.ly/4mdscgv

The Feeling - A project where artists are encouraged to explore their collections and share the sounds that resonate, linger, and most importantly, give them, The Feeling.

The series comprises 16 one-hour episodes rolling out over the next 8 months (2 episodes per month), showcasing some of my favorite artists, DJs, and colleagues from the Cape Town and South African music scenes.

------------
Find The Feeling series:

Instagram: https://bit.ly/4iD7C7P
TikTok: https://bit.ly/4j6PWRC

Shoemaker 
Instagram: https://bit.ly/42PRB6A  
TikTok: https://bit.ly/41TN98N

Equipment and lighting provided by MyOh!My Entertainment: https://bit.ly/4lvhIcT

Filmed at Soundcast Studios, Cape Town, South Africa: https://bit.ly/3DYzqV7

Follow the 🔗 in bio to watch the full episode and others 🥤🍿

The Feeling: Ep 09 - DJ Okapi

Toward the end of the 1980s South Africa's recording industry was booming. Searching for a sound that could cross over to all in the country's segregated society while also eyeing international success, a new duo emerged that quickly rendered its 'bubblegum' predecessors obsolete. Drawing on international trends and crafting lyrics for local ears, J.E. MOVEMENT — a duo made up of James Nyingwa and Elliot Faku — exploded onto the local scene with their debut album, 'Ma Dea Luv'. The future had arrived.

A talented bassist and composer, Nyingwa was at the time employed as an in-house producer at TRS Studios in Plein Street in downtown Johannesburg, run by two Greek immigrants, George Vardas and Chris Ghelakis. Together they formed a close bond as friends and musical partners at what would become CSR Records, recording original hits with acts like the NEW AGE KIDS and SIDNEY, while also cashing in on cover versions as BLACK BOX. 

The six tracks on J.E. Movement’s 1988 debut give firm nods to UK Street Soul, New Jack Swing and Stock Aitken Waterman's 'Hit Factory' sound and infuse them with an African rhythmic flair and homegrown lyrical sentiment. Though not expressly political, the title track was received by many as a play on words referencing then-jailed and banned Nelson Mandela (coming after the similarly styled 'I'm Winning My Dear Love' by Yvonne Chaka Chaka in 1986 and 'We Miss You Manelow' by Chicco in 1987), giving it an added potency for those in the know. 'Jack I'm Sorry' was an underground hit in the townships, while 'Marco', 'Friends', 'Funkytown' and the eponymous closer are similarly bass and drum-driven, with hiphop-styled vocals.

Afrosynth Records is proud to release J.E. Movement's groundbreaking ‘Ma Dea Luv’, out in mid-2025 on vinyl and digital platforms. Buy the record here via Rush Hour: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/ma-dea-luv

Buy AFS060 on vinyl

'Ma Dea Luv' - JE Movement

Adey Omotade, a sound artist and cultural cartographer rooted in Lagos and shaped by diasporic experiences in Paris, Johannesburg, Berlin and Ivory Coast, brings a rare sensibility to this work: walking between worlds, bringing with him the cadence of home and the dissonance of diaspora. In his hands, sound becomes ritual: a migration of soul, an assemblage of bells, melodies and chants woven from Ifa shrines, river banks and Yoruba festivals. Playing the dual role of griot and cartographer, Omotade, who works across acoustic ecology, experimental music and sound design, builds each track like a shrine: layered, intentional, alive with breath and blood, each track a libation, each break an invocation. Each track unfurls like aso-oke, the celebratory fabric of the Yoruba people: drums that speak in polyrhythms, synths bending like waves, incantations layered like memory, fading then returning, gently like the water at the banks of the Osun River. 

The influence of experimental sound design is evident throughout, but ‘Ni'ran’ is no cold abstraction. It pulses with life, with the heartbeat of talking drums, the breath of ambient textures and the warmth of the voices of babalawos, priests of Ifa, invoking ire (blessings) on all. 

Out in late 2025 on Afrosynth Records. Pre-order AFS060 now: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/eero-eesu

Eero Eesu

'Ni'ran' - Adey Omotade

Adey Omotade, a sound artist and cultural cartographer rooted in Lagos and shaped by diasporic experiences in Paris, Johannesburg, Berlin and Ivory Coast, brings a rare sensibility to this work: walking between worlds, bringing with him the cadence of home and the dissonance of diaspora. In his hands, sound becomes ritual: a migration of soul, an assemblage of bells, melodies and chants woven from Ifa shrines, river banks and Yoruba festivals. Playing the dual role of griot and cartographer, Omotade, who works across acoustic ecology, experimental music and sound design, builds each track like a shrine: layered, intentional, alive with breath and blood, each track a libation, each break an invocation. Each track unfurls like aso-oke, the celebratory fabric of the Yoruba people: drums that speak in polyrhythms, synths bending like waves, incantations layered like memory, fading then returning, gently like the water at the banks of the Osun River. 

‘Oori : Ogbe’ invokes the sacred Odu Ifá — a divination verse that speaks of beginnings, clarity and destiny. 

Out in late 2025 on Afrosynth Records. Pre-order AFS060 now: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/eero-eesu

'Oori Ogbe' - Adey Omotade

In ‘Ofo : 'Nkantation’, polyrhythms unfold like verses, each beat a coded message inviting listeners to reflect on destiny and alignment...

'Ofo 'Nkantation' - Adey Omotade

'Ace 1' - Mr. Ace (1992)

http://afrosynth.blogspot.co.za/search/label/The%20Hard%20Workers

Ayoba-Yo

'Axe Chop' - The Hard Workers (1988)

This is an old unmastered rip of the song featured on AFS035. Apologies for poor sound quality.

Tshigubu Tshanga

'Vanonyana Lava' - Volcano (1993)

Ahi Sona

'Swa Misavha' - Sister Pinky

'You Are The One' - Ntombi & Survival (1985)

From the six-track album 'Tomorrow' out now on Afrosynth Records (AFS036).

Buy the record: http://www.rushhour.nl/store_detailed.php?item=100754
Digital: https://afrosynth.bandcamp.com/

Tomorrow AFS036

'Tomorrow' - Ntombi Ndaba

From the six-track album 'Tomorrow' out now on Afrosynth Records (AFS036).

Buy the record: www.rushhour.nl/store_detailed.php?item=100754
Digital: afrosynth.bandcamp.com/

AFS036 Tomorrow

'Heart Attack' - Ntombi Ndaba

DJ Okapi (@afrosynth) DJ set at El cuerpo del Disco, berlínClub (@bclubmadrid), on October 6th 2018.

Dj Okapi at El cuerpo del Disco (berlínClub, Madrid)

Ta Duma

Ta Duma (12" instrumental) - Obed Ngobeni and the Kurhula Sisters (1984)

Think More About Me / You Are The One

'Think More About Me' - Ntombi & Survival

Composed by: S. Cooks, D. Coka, S. Phiri & A. Sibanda
Produced by: Steve Cooks (exec: Ronnie Robot)
From the album 'She’s a Witch (Tikoloshi'
1988 On Record
2019 Afrosynth Records AFS042
Pre-order here: www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/shes-witch-tikoloshi

She's A Witch (Tikoloshi)

'Hlabalaza' - The Bees

Written by: Thapelo Khomo, Danny Malewa & Mandla Mofokeng
Producers: Thapelo Khomo & Mandla Mofokeng 
Co-producer: Danny ‘Kamazu’ Malewa
Engineer: Ian Osrin 
From the album Ghetto Style (Teal Records, 1997)
Reissued by Afrosynth Records 2019
Pre-order AFS043 now: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/korobela

AFS043 Korobela

'Mjukeit' - Kamazu

B3. Siya Makuzeni Sextet - 'Out Of this World'

From the upcoming 4-track album 'Gorilla Man'(AFS047)
Originally released on the 1988 album Pick Six (CCP Record Company)
Composed & arranged by Condry Ziqubu
Engineers: Fab Grosso, Fernando Perdigao & Neville Holmes
Mixed by: Richard Mitchell

'Phola Baby' - Condry Ziqubu

Composed, arranged and produced by Condry Ziqubu & Selwyn Shandel
CCP Record Company 1986
Reissued by Afrosynth Records - AFS047 out in early 2021. 
pre-order here: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/gorilla-man-0

'Gorilla Man' - Condry Ziqubu

Composed by Moses Mafiri
Produced & Arranged by Selwyn Shandel
Digital Editing: S. Shandel & F. Grosso
Engineer: Fab Grosso
1985 CCP Records/EMI
From the upcoming Afrosynth reissue AFS046
more details: http://www.afrosynth.com/2021/01/captin-mosez-fly-cherry-fly.html
Pre-order via Rush Hour: https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/fly-cherry-fly

'Fly Cherry Fly (Extended Vocal)' - Captain Mosez

Composed by Moses Mafiri
Produced & Arranged by Selwyn Shandel
Digital Editing: S. Shandel & F. Grosso
Engineer: Fab Grosso
1985 CCP Records/EMI
From the upcoming Afrosynth reissue AFS046, out in March 2021.
more details: http://www.afrosynth.com/2021/01/captin-mosez-fly-cherry-fly.html
Pre-order via Rush Hour: www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/fly-cherry-fly

Afrosynth Records

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks