BLACK COFFEE
01:00-03:00
The horror unfolds. They are everywhere. A sea of them is seen. Held in the air. All various sizes. The soft glow of screens. Their displays all read the same. Blackness and flashes of purple pixels. Is this a venue tradition? The gathered mass, standing erect, pulled out smartphones to film onstage the musical shaman playing.
“My Africa. My Africa. My Africa.” Actor Antonio Lyons speaks to cheers. The Nitefreak Afro Buzz Remix excites with its traditional West African melody and tambin as songstress Refilwe Mandumo belts “N’degenini, B’otonayho.” Next, &Me’s “Garden” of clapperless bells accompanies “they just strut, what the fuck,” DJ Roland Clark speaks on “I Get Deep,” the sound bite played a second time within the night.
A glance around the premises reveals the magnetic pull of Afro-power. Several ethnicities, genders, ages, sexual orientations and hair colors dance to Gothic & Nularse’s “Unspoken” to the percussion driven Lokkhi Terra & Dele Sosimi’s “Afro Sambroso” (Sequ3l Remix).
On the stellar “Domboshaba (Red Hill)” by DJ Fresh (SA) & Eltonnick, a dance circle crops mid-field of ivory and wheat stalks. The movement of soul dances; his feet intertwined, his torso contorted. His visage illuminated by the flashes from black devices. Across the cut, on a ramp for the physically disabled, several “Aye-ye-ye-ye-ye-ye-ye-ye-ye-ye,” tongue trills cry out. Several dancers had carved 1” by 2” spaces to spin around in circles. Their feet shuffling on a black rug blocks the dance floor colonizers from passing through. The colonizer’s “sorry(s) and excuse me(s)” are heard over Danny Teanglia’s “Music Is The Answer” (Dancin’ And Prancin’) (a cappella) vs DJ Rolando’s “Jaguar” (Space Motion Remix) that sends electric shrills into the atmosphere.
No doubt, the room’s energy borders fanatic. The music played is energetic. That necessary energy. Take SURAJ, Max Doblhoff & Baboulaye Cissokho’s “Dimbale,” the Raul Bryan S Dub simmers slowly collecting pulsating rhythms that build but never fully capsizes before the percussions drop. An applause that sounds of thunder rushes towards the ceiling rafters. “Is this what happens at this point?” A South African accent is overheard whispering to his pal leaning into her ear. “People clap?” Then…BOOM…the beat drops and emerald lights beam across the room worthy of summer fireworks.
There are drops. Many beat drops. Tellingly, one hundred and twenty thousand watts of Funktion-One beat drops. This style of mix and sequence might shock a few who are accustomed to dancing in 200 square feet shoebox shapes with JBLs attached to tripods grounded to cratered cement, who want “Home Brewed” to be looped for two hours. Don’t hate. This music is next-level Afro. Listen closely to the call. Be it the speaking of native tongues, ululates and talking drums. What defines Afro house rhythms is never abandoned but fully explored. Emotive elementals realized by the throngs of multi-colored faces devouring every little crumpet on the dance floor.
The master mixer conducting and orchestrating the marvel, his eyes hiding behind black frames as he stands wearing a black tee and black denim. His accolades reads; a forty-something, recently-divorced, father of four that appears on talk shows, plays Coachella, hosts Beats 1, holds residence in Ibiza, oft tours Moscow to Dubai, remixes Alicia Keys, counts Drake as a stan, and produces Usher’s latest. Yet, to whom much is given, much is required. Perhaps the award-winning producer is a 21st century freedom fighter for South Africa house music, fighting for equality for SA artists, freeing their sound (and his) to the world and a mouthpiece that humbly speaks. His music is bold. Unapologetically black. Clearly, a telling truth prevails; he lives up to his alias. Nkosinathi Innocent Maphumulo is Black Coffee.
Although the name Black Coffee is scribbled on the arena-size LED monitor that appears to swallow Nathi Maphumulo whole, his come-up was not all bright lights, big sound. Born in the township of Umlazi southwest of Durban, primarily raised by his mother and grandmother, as a teenager an incident involving a taxi van cost him the use of his left arm that affected his dreams of becoming a pianist and DJ, howbeit undeterred, he studied jazz at a university before dropping out to care for his family, worked as a backing singer, formed an Afro pop band, and garnered national notoriety after performing at an energy drink’s now defunct music academy. After releasing two albums, his third release was a critically acclaimed success that became the blueprint for South Africa’s house music revival. His fourth release, a three CD with accompanying DVD, went triple-platinum and his fifth release of twelve songs on Ultra Music, opened the door for him to collaborate with the likes of EDM’s David Guetta, his production partner on “Drive,” featuring Delilah Montagu’s vocals is the night’s capital fail thus far. Playing the EDM bop scores with the crew-cut crowd but fouls those with receded hairlines.
The Soulistic Music founder’s ability to interweave narratives through a musical journey is that which makes him towers above his contemporaries. Listen closely and hear his telling of the journeying ancestors. Their calling to loved ones. With voices raised, their singing, their song, “Waka.” The Karyendasoul recording is the channel that transports the transitioned through infinite dimensions. The spiritual are ready to join the secular. Onstage, the music station serves as the ofrenda. Liquid in aluminum cans; water, the ROBE intelligent lighting; the wind, the whiffs of grass; earth, and the electric flickering candles onstage; fire. The enchanting vibes of Afro-tech’s Enoo Napa welcomes the ancestral to “E(ART)H.” As DeMajor featuring Lizwi’s “Traveller” (Kususa & Quetornik Remix) summons the arrivers to an otherworldly dance. Spirits two-stepping atop mops of heads, blesses the souls below. Heed Dia de Los Muertos.
Their voices speak Español. Their canvas soles shuffle to and fro. There a couple dances securely in each other arms. The Chicanx feel the groove. As one dancer throws his right leg on top a railing, the lady with the Spanish accent squeals, “What’s that?” Her man replies with a wink, “That’s called dancing.”
This journey of dance is not all beats. There are vocals-riffs of verses and hooks extracted from Fish Go Deep’s “Cure and the Cause,” Goyte’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” Black Coffee featuring Buice’s “Turn Me On, “Sister Pearl’s “Bang The Drum” to the most recognizable “Hello,” a sultry an all-too-familiar voice sings, “I’ve been hurt so many times.” Across the venue mouths erupt with praise. Coffee’s redux of “Superman,” (a cappella) the anthem that catapulted him into the stratosphere, plays over beeps and thumps for two minutes before disappearing as electronic dust into The Detroit Experiment’s “Think Twice” (Henrick Schwarz Remix).
03:00
The house lights that floods the room-blinding retinas-signals departure time. Yet, Mr. V’s a cappella commands the hundreds left to “Jus Dance,” to Culoe De Song’s “Y.O.U.D” that comes to an end. BAM! There drops a surprise! Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You” with its rolling bass and guitar tweaks. The crowd goes well, apeshit. Mid-song the music is hushed into silence. Suddenly, 90’s songstress Robin S sings. Black Coffee shows love to the crowd by playing “Show Me Love” (a cappella) as the crowd returns the favor singing, “Heart breaks and promises, I’ve had more than my share.” After the hook, cue the French house classic that returns and plays till the last drop.
“BLACK COFFEE ONE MORE!” Men shout wearing ball caps. “BLACK COFFEE ONE MORE!”
“Wow! You stayed till the end, Ghost Cam says to one dancer standing awestruck. “This must have been a special moment for you.”
“Yes indeed.” The dancer replies, flashing a most satisfying smile.
words: aj dance
above illustration: aj art
Share this:
Tags: afro house, afro house music, afro tech music, Ameer Brooks, Atlanta, Atlanta Georgia, Black Coffee, dance, dance music, house music, Ravine, Themba