The First Long Weekend

Hey you guys,

I can barely keep my eyes opened as I type this. I'm not sure if it's the heat, the long weekend, or the fact that one is not getting any younger; but fact of the matter is that I'm really tired. Hopefully after reading this, you'll have an answer for me. Anyway, the "first" long weekend has come and gone. I have to admit, it was a really good weekend. On Thursday I had a "catch up" session with an old friend and ended up singing wedding songs at another friend's house who was getting married on Saturday. We'll leave the singing of wedding songs for another day. On Friday morning I woke up with a hangover but was happy at the fact that it was a holiday. I spent the better part of the day with family...and "extended family" in the afternoon having meat and beer. What a great afternoon that was. The rest of the day was spent "reconciling" with a few cold ones...LoL

On Saturday morning I woke up thinking it was a Sunday morning...and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Not much happened in the afternoon but then I had to go and play at the Love Revolution gig in Meadowlands. I had an early set. I'm not sure how the rest of the night panned out because the afternoon was a bit slow. People really need to be in the habit of attending gigs early. The whole idea behind the Love Revolution was a picnic. By 7pm, the place should've been packed to capacity. I could tell when I left that it would get packed later at night but was kinda disappointed by the fact that people didn't arrive "on time". I had to rush off to Rockerfella Lounge for the last Soulful Kollective Night for 2011. When I got there, Cnr537 was on the decks. Looking nice in his summer outfit, the boy was really painting the scene on what to expect later in the night. Pity he had to leave early though. Up next was the talented dj/producer from Tembisa, Copasetik Soul. Oh my goodness, was I impressed!!! From the first track right up to the last one, the boy had a flawless mix and the tracks were simply out of this world. He really kept me on my feet till the end of his set. Bee Kay, the boy behind the compilation Deep Xpressions was up next. I just like it when people always come up to me and  always ask me the same thing; "how come we never get to hear such dj's play on a regular basis?" Up next was Thabang from the Chilla Nathi crew. Once again, I was blown away. Jeez, this guy was on point. By this time, people were starting to come in by the numbers. Unfortunately, due to reasons beyond our control, Deep Xcape could not make it to Soweto on time. They missed their set. This however, gave us enough time to play. I had another one-on-one set with my man Jiyane. Really nice time I had. Zakes TruSole decided that he wanted to join. This now became a one-on-one-one set. A super dope time we had. We took people down memory lane, introduced them to new music; had them sing along to a few familiar tracks; had them throw their hands in the air... Oh my goodness...

We'd really love to thank each and everyone of you for making it on Saturday. We really closed the year of in a beautiful way.

Guys, this will probably be my last blog for the year... Key word being, PROBABLY. If I don't get to chat to you for the rest of the year, I would really like each and everyone of you to have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Please take care of yourselves over the rest of the festive season guys. I will see you this coming weekend at the following venues:

23 December: Soulful Evolution @ the Rockerfella Lounge
24 December : 3rd Revibe Party @ the Rockerfella Lounge
25 December: Morris Pub in Dobsonville

Giving Back

Hey you guys,

The past week has been filled with nothing but mixed emotions for me and a few other friends. DJ Leeby's memorial service had a huge turn out. The man was really loved. Once again, rest in peace Leeby. We then got more bad news about another dj that's been in accident. The lovely Y-Me was in an accident on Thursday (08 December 2011). She is in a critical condition in hospital and I pray for her speedy recovery. Please can you take care of yourselves over this festive season guys. We really can't afford to be losing more lives now. Let's not be reckless on the roads. Remember that when you drive, you're not just driving for yourself, you are driving for all the other drivers around you. Be extra vigilant when you're behind the steering wheel.

On Saturday, I attended a very informative music workshop organised by dO iT nOw Recordings at Shikisha in Newtown. The Summer Music Workshop started at 10am and ended at 4pm. What an informative session this was. All the speakers were well informed and we all learnt valuable lessons from this session. Much respect goes out to dO iT nOw for this workshop. Eventhough this was their first workshop, the effort they put into this session was quite phenominal. Special shoutout to Bella, Soul Thabi, Bossruu and 2lani The Warrior. Good job guys. After this session, I headed to Godfrey Moloi's Mansion at Protea Glen for the BBM Picnic, alongside my boy DJ Jiyane. I have to say, the weather spoiled it for everyone on Saturday. One could tell that if the weather had behaved, this would've been one good party. We did however still managed to have fun. I had a one-on-one set with DJ Jiyane and it was really nice. The night was young; Jiyane and myself still wanted to have fun. We then headed to the Rockerfella Lounge for the Noma Yini gig. Oh my goodness!!! This was one killer party. Big up to my boys Big Sky and Bhutz Tunz for a killer party. It was nice to see most of the guys living up to the theme of the party. I saw girls dressed up in their nighties, a pantsula Santa Claus, a lobola negotiator....and of course, the music. I got so caught up in the moment that I really had the urge to play. I don't normally don't this, but because of the fun, I gatecrashed a set. On the whole, this was a killer party. Well done boys.

We are approaching another long weekend guys. As I indicated earlier, we can't afford to have more accidents over the weekend. Please be extra vigilant on the roads and let us try to refrain from drinking and driving. We are hosting our last Soulful Kollective Night on Saturday (17 December) and we have a sweet dj line up. I will send more details on this gig and all the other gigs I will be playing at later this week.

Until then guys, let's all have another productive week.

One Love.

Push Up Ya Lighters

Hey you guys,

Yesterday afternoon I was shocked to learn that a friend and favourite dj to a lot of you had passed on. Seems like almost every December we loose dj's nowadays. I was saddened to learn about the sudden passing of DJ Leeby. I can recall the first time I heard of this guy. While studying at Wits Technikon (now the University of Johannesburg), a friend of mine told me about this dj from the Eastern Cape that was about to take over the industry. He was mostly impressed by the fact that this guy had his own turntables in his room (at res). Apparently his room would always have guests because everyone was fascinated by this guy with records and turntables in his room. He would entertain people who genuinely were interested in music and those who aspired to be dj's. "He is really a nice guy" is what my friend would always say. A part of me was somewhat jealous seeing as I thought I was the only dj amongst my friends at tech. Apart from my friend DJ Linda (Da Gr8), I honestly thought we were the "unique" guys at Wits Tech at the time, and here comes this guy from the Eastern Cape (nogal) about to steal my spotlight. I was jealous no doubt...LoL

This jealousy went on until I left Wits Tech. By the time I had left, the man's reputation was spreading across Jozi. I couldn't stand the sight of this man. He was rubbing shoulders with all the right people and was getting all the right bookings. Our paths crossed later on though when we started playing at the same places and started hanging out with the same crowd. Yes, this Leeby guy was always around and we would never really greet. I can safely say that we kinda "tolerated" each because I knew for a fact that he knew who I was. It was not until we played together on one Thursday night at the Capitol Music Cafe. I remember John Da Baptist calling me so that we'd take a picture with Leeby. The man embraced me like I was his long lost friend and he asked me the "strangest" question ever. "dude, let's have a beer" is what he said to me. Could this have been a dream? Was Leeby really being nice to me? Did he even know who I was? I will never answer that question now. I knew from then that I had found a friend. Our next encounter was when we both played at Port Elizabeth. I remember that Saturday night like it was yesterday. We were just a bunch of dj's and people from P.E. hanging outside a club drinking and listening to music from a car. I didn't really know the guys from P.E that well and needless to say, I was a bit of a loner. Leeby noticed my face in the dark and rushed over with a bottle of Heineken and stood next to me and we started sharing jokes and talking about our "shinanigans" in Jo'burg. A suggestion was made by someone to go hang out at the next club in P.E and Leeby out of the blue ditched his friends and was riding with myself and my good friend DJ De Kok. I will not get into much detail about the rest of the night but Leeby was there, embracing "his friend" from Jozi who wasn't familiar with P.E.

Ladies and gents, I'm not about to lie to you and say that Leeby was my best friend. He was not. Leeby was a guy I got to like at a very late stage in my life even though we were always among the same crowd. This man had a passion for music. He loved what he did and he loved life. I will not say I didn't like Leeby. I really was a young boy who was somewhat intimidated by his talent. This is the only dj I know that would play a Bob Marley song at 12 midnight at ANY club and have the crowd go crazy. This guy would break into a song and have everyone push up a lighter and unite everyone with just one song.

Leeby my friend, I never got to enjoy a lot of times with you, but I got to party with you. We knew the same people, we liked the same things and most importantly we both had a passion for music. I wish I had taken the time to get to know you better. I wish someone can come to me now and say this is all a joke. You were a true soldier my friend and I will miss you dearly. Condolances to your family and all your close friends. Let's all have a moment of silence for the beautiful soul guys...and yes, PUSH UP A LIGHTER and remember DJ Leeby. Lala ngoxolo bhuti!!! You will forever be missed.

Another soldier down...

World AIDS Day

Hey guys,

Today being the 1st December marks World AIDS Day. The statics of people who are infected with the HI Virus is still shocking...especially in the southern hemisphere. We still have a long way to go people. I have of recent, found out that a very close friend of mine is also infected with this HI Virus. Needless to say that I was not only shocked by this, but also hurt. The beauty about his recent discovery though is that it not only shed a light about the seriousness of this disease, but it has also prompted me to be extra careful and really take care of myself and realise that it can get to anyone.

I've also been shocked by his attitude towards this revelation. As opposed to dwelling on his sorrows and feeling sorry for himself, my friend took this on by the horns and confronted this virus head on. Not only is he HIV positive, he's attitude has also changed for the POSITIVE. I admire his courage daily. I'm not sure if I would've be as positive. He has taught me a lot about courage. My blog will not be about me this time. I have asked him to put his point across when it comes to this virus. Once again, I need to stress this point. Being HIV positive does not mean that one has AIDS. It is not a death sentence. I would like for you guys to read this "poem" that my friend wrote and I hope that it will change a lot of mindsets about this virus:

"My name is Luqman and I recently discovered that am HIV positive.L
Should i be angry, cry, sad or even hate the person who infected me?
Maybe or maybe not, what’s point?

The sad thing is that I never thought it will happen to me, as i have always been careful...
But i had to get married to be infected, this thing came into my house & my bed.

But one thing I can tell this invader, you came to the wrong body...
You will do as I say, you are not going to take over my Body...it’s mine and it be taken care of by me.
You are nothing but an opportunistic filth, that has no place in this world..
I will keep going, eat well (as always) excises and make you invasion hell.
Hiv you have to know that you unwelcome occupier....make no mistake you are going to reside here forever....

I might be hiv positive (also life positive)..."