Q&A | Zakes Bantwini: ‘The Star Is Reborn’
The master craftsman flexes his skill on this celebration of growth
A continuation of the sonic story he started on 2022’s Ghetto King, the title of Afro-house producer Zakes Bantwini’s fourth album was spawned from a conversation about cars.
“People who fall in love with a car always look forward to the new facelift,” he told Apple Music.
“I think that's what happens with my music. I take time to give you a body of work. So when I give you the last album, you hold onto it until you get another one. When you really think about the sound I'm doing right now and the approach and the things I'm achieving, I feel like I'm indeed reborn in this music industry.”
The Star Is Reborn takes the futuristic Afro-house baton from Ghetto King and runs further, but this time the producer and DJ dares to venture into more personal subject matter.
“I feel I'm still in the same world, but maybe exploring other avenues,” he explained.
“Like when you're in the venue and you are told there is a VIP area. I feel like I'm still in that sound and trying to explore it even more and to see what's going to happen with it.”
The one year in between projects wasn’t exactly intentional, however. It’s more of a byproduct of Bantwini’s perfectionism.
“I just want you to feel like, 'This guy has worked on this thing’,” he confessed.
“People think that with dance music, people just don't work on it. For iParty 2.0, we had a 52-piece strings section. I want people to know this is a true art and this guy really worked on this. It's an album where a young person and an older person, a learned one or even a music enthusiast and a non-music enthusiast, will be able to fall in love with the craft.”
He talks us through key tracks on the album.
Image: supplied
I wrote that record for Mafikizolo. I sent it to Theo, to say, “Hey, man. Do you like this record?” It was unsolicited. So we did the song. I called Skye Wanda, and Karyendasoul [as producer and co-writer]. And then I sent it to Theo [Kgosinkwe, one half of Mafikizolo] and he said, “Yo, man. I like it but we've just released so I don't know what are we going to do with it, so it's probably going to be with us for a year or whatever”.
For me, it speaks about lovers having been in trouble around the issue of electricity. The other one talking about, “Yo, you couldn't get hold of me because there was no electricity”. It's very, very, current and I think the subject matter is very South African. It really hits home. It's a play on words and it’s really a fun track.
Image: Supplied
There's a song of mine called Amanga . It’s a personal song and Abantu is a continuation of that song. You have to be careful of people who want to see you [go] down. It's really that song that says, “You need to be aware t there are people who sometimes will think about your life and how to destroy it”.
I think we all have had a fair share of that, but some people are lucky enough [to know when] people are actively trying to destroy them.
I know I've had a fair share of those. I've had to experience that over and over. At this level of my career, you still have people who want to destroy you. So, let me do a song. It’s the only way I know how to express myself. Abantu is advising my fans or people who cared to listen to say, “Be careful of people like this. They do exist”. It is an original song on Ghetto King. I reached out to the Africa Deep and said “Remix the song because it's special”.