Dave Durbach, more commonly known as DJ Okapi, is spinning a vinyl record of the old African electronic music that is a large part of what's on sale at Afrosynth. Located in the lively Maboneng precinct, the store is right in the heart of the bustle of a regenerating downtown Joburg. Among its neighbours are the Museum of African Design and the newly opened Cosmopolitan building."I was born in the '80s, so I was too young at the time to really be exposed to a lot of this music, except maybe what one would hear on the radio, like Marcalex or Brenda Fassie," says Durbach, adding that his taste for bubblegum and Afro-synth disco has evolved since he began DJing 10 years ago as a student in Cape Town. "When I started, I was playing more American funk and soul, but through DJing and digging over the years, I've accumulated quite a big collection of old South African and African music."Durbach says many of his customers are collectors from overseas, mostly DJs and promoters, at a time when South African electronic music is experiencing a surge of popularity across the world, particularly in Europe.This could be because new sub-genres - like Durban's popular gqom sound - have been on high rotation in European clubs and festivals as DJs have taken to it, even making stars of young producers and originators of the sound such as DJ Lag and Rudeboyz. Nozinja, the musician and producer credited with the popularisation of Shangaan electro, for example, played at Sonar 2016 in Barcelona in June, and more local artists are being booked for gigs in places as far-flung as Berlin and Tokyo.Durbach agrees that the increasing popularity of the older genres such as bubblegum and disco, even kwaito, among foreign DJs could be a direct result of the world becoming more interested in South African and African music in general.On his blog, afrosynth.blogspot.com, Durbach gives readers an educated perspective into the music mostly lost in time - South African artists who were not as popular as the likes of Yvonne Chaka Chaka or Chicco Twala.His DJ sets these days consist mostly of such music, which he says sometimes elicits confusion or disinterest from younger crowds more familiar with contemporary house - but also sometimes tears from older people for whom the sound evokes memories of their youth...