Oskido

Last updated

Oskido
Born
Oscar Sibonginkosi Mdlongwa

(1967-11-29) 29 November 1967 (age 56)
Oukasie Township, Brits, North West Province, South Africa
Other namesOscar Warona, Godzilla, The Big "O"
Occupations
  • Record producer
  • businessman
  • DJ
Musical career
Genres
Years active1989–present
Labels Kalawa Jazmee Records
Website oskidoibelieve.com

Oscar Sibonginkosi Mdlongwa (born 29 November 1967 [1] ) is a South African recording artist, DJ, record producer and businessman. [2] Having been in the music industry for over 26 years, Oskido has reached a prominent status in the South African music industry, more-so in popular youth culture. He is undoubtedly one of the pioneering artists that popularised the Kwaito genre of music outside of the townships of South Africa, and he's been central to the rise of Afro-house and opened doors for the new genre known as amapiano. [3] [4] Oskido is the co-founder of Kalawa Jazmee Records (formerly Kalawa Records), a record label that is home to musical acts like Mafikizolo, Bongo Maffin, and many other foremost groups. [5]

Contents

Life and career

1967-1990: Early childhood

Oscar Sibonginkosi Mdlongwa born in November 26, 1967, to the late Zimbabwean father, Esaph Mdlongwa, who was a politician and his South African mother, Emily Sophia Molefi, in Oukasie township, Brits, North West, South Africa, Oskido spent most of his early life in Luveve Township, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where he went on to finish his basic education after graduating from Gifford High School, Bulawayo. He returned to Brits at the age of 21 in 1988 to run a family business in Lethlabile, Brits shop before he left for Johannesburg to pursue a career in music.

1991-2006: Career beginnings

Oskido's career kicked off after he volunteered to perform at Razzmatazz when the scheduled DJ failed to show up. The late Ian Sigola played a major role in guiding him in the club scene by lending him his vinyls. After reworking songs and formulating his own sound in the studio, he went on to release the cassette compilations ‘Mixmaster’ and ‘Big Jam’, thus boosting his popularity outside of Johannesburg, before he was introduced to Bruce "Dope" Sebitlo, a South African music artist who went on partner Oskido in the Brothers of Peace group. Under the Brothers of Peace banner, Oskido and Sebitlo released and produced eight albums between 1994 and 2004, including the kwaito classic 'Makwerekwere' which discouraged Xenophobia on foreigners, as well as ‘Traffic Cop’ and the ground-breaking ‘Project A’ and ‘Zabalaza: Project B’ albums, which are Afro-house pioneers. The ‘Zabalaza’ title track made it to dancefloors across the globe when Louie Vega licensed and remixed it for his MAW Records label. He was also influential in setting up groups such as Mafikizolo, Bongo Muffin and Trompies.

At the 13th Metro FM Music Awards, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award. [6]

On July 23, 2021, he released a single "Sizophelelaphi" with Msaki. [7]

Business ventures

Kalawa Jazmee

Kalawa Jazmee Records (sometimes "KJ Records") was formed as Kalawa in 1992 by Christos Katsaitis, Don Laka and DJ Oskido and took its name from the first two letters of Don & Christos respective surnames Wa was taken from Oskido's surname "Mdlongwa". Boom Shaka (Lebo Mathosa, Theo Nhlengethwa, Junior Sokhela and Thembi Seete) were the new label's first signing, with debut album "It's About Time" released in 1993.[ citation needed ]Joining with Trompie's label Jazmee in 1995, it then became known as Kalawa-Jazmee Records, [2] later dropping the hyphen completely. The company is currently run by Oscar Mdlongwa, Don Laka, Bruce "Dope "Sebitlo, Zynne 'Mahoota' Sibika, Mandla 'Spikiri' Mofokeng, and Emmanuel 'Mjokes' Matsane. The record label has been at the forefront of youth culture and has produced other top acts like Bongo Maffin, Mafikizolo, Thebe, Alaska, Professor, Uhuru, Dr Malinga, Black Motion, Zonke, Winnie Khumalo, DJ Zinhle, Busiswa and many others.

Kwaito revolution

Kwaito is a music genre that was originally created in South Africa during the 1990s. It has been described as the music that defines the generation who came of age after apartheid. Oskido was amongst the first artists to produce kwaito tracks by adding vocals to the slow tempo house beats, and it went on to become popular in South Africa.[ citation needed ]But Oskido’s music could be differentiated from the rest of the Kwaito genre with its particular jazz elements. His co-creator, Don Laka, who’s a jazz maestro, gave their production a hybrid sound that set them apart from the rest. Oskido and his producing partners faced an avalanche of criticism from all quarters of the music industry for creating Kwaito. His contribution to the development of dance music in South Africa earned him a Special Recognition Award at the 2012 Channel O Music Video Awards.[ citation needed ]He was also part of the Kalawa Jazmee crew honoured at the SA Dance Music Awards in the same year.

House Music

Oskido is also known for his top selling ‘Church Grooves’ compilation series, which kicked off in 2001 and changed the face of South African house compilations, making them a staple in the industry for the next twenty years. In 2012 he launched the "I Believe" project, which is also the name of his radio show on Metro FM. This programme that was started with his Madlozi partner, Maloka, and the NYDA, and seeks to turn young music names into serious businessmen and women.[ citation needed ]

In the mid-2000s, along with Greg Maloka, DJ Fresh, Vinny Da Vinci and DJ Christos, he started DJU (Deejays Unite), and this crew was responsible for equipping young music names and DJs with valuable industry information through the annual Southern African Music Conference (SAMC). The conference lead to names like Black Coffee, DJ Tira, Euphonik and more breaking into the music industry and has opened doors for many others.[ citation needed ]

In the summer of 2019, he released a new album called ‘Akhiwe’, which paralleled his distinctive midtempo sound with the emerging amapiano genre. He collaborated with a number of artists on the album, including amapiano pioneers Kabza De Small and MFR Souls, and vocalists including Toshi (who was named Top Vocalist of 2018 by Traxsource), Monique Bingham, Winnie Khumalo, Zonke Dikana, and Tamara Dey, whose career Oskido helped kickstart when she sang on BOP’s "That'Impahlayakho".

These major names are joined by younger, equally highly gifted talent, including Drum Pope (who has collaborated with DJ Vetkuk vs Mahoota) and Mapiano, who worked on an early (and highly successful)[ according to whom? ] cut from this LP, "Balambile". The atmospheric "Ma Dlamini" features Kalawa alumni Professor.[ citation needed ]

Earlier in 2019, Mdlongwa shared a snap of his new restaurant, Daruma By Oskido Japanese Restaurant, in Waterfall Corner Johannesburg.[ citation needed ]

Discography

Compilations

Extended Play

See also

Related Research Articles

Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, between the late 1980s and 1990s. It is a variant of house music that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music and often contain catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep bass lines and vocals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YFM</span> South African radio station

YFM is a "Youth" radio station in Johannesburg, South Africa. Established in 1997, the station is formatted to mostly play urban music genres such as Kwaito, Hip Hop, and R&B along with a minority of its airtime being dedicated to talk shows. As noted by the name, the station's core audience consists of young South Africans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bongo Maffin</span> South African kwaito music group

Bongo Maffin is a South African kwaito music group, formed by Zimbabwe-born DJ Jah Seed in Johannesburg in 1996. They released their first studio album, Leaders of D’Gong (1997), followed by The Concerto (1998), Bongolution (2001), and New Construction (2005). The four-member group consisted of Stone Seate, Jah Seed, Speedy, and lead vocalist Thandiswa Mazwai, who released her debut solo album, Zabalaza, in 2006, after the group split up. The group reunited in 2019 and released a new album, From Bongo With Love.

<i>Zabalaza</i> (album) 2006 studio album by Thandiswa Mazwai

Zabalaza is the first solo album release from the South African musical performer, Thandiswa Mazwai. Before this album, Thandiswa was most famously known as the lead singer for the kwaito group Bongo Maffin. Zabalaza incorporates elements of kwaito, traditional Xhosa music, mbaqanga, reggae, and gospel music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thandiswa Mazwai</span> South African musician

Thandiswa Nyameka Mazwai is a South African musician, and is also the lead vocalist and songwriter of Bongo Maffin. She is also known as King Tha. Her debut album Zabalaza (2004), which attained double platinum status and her album also got nominated for Planet Awards on BBC Radio 3.

Trompies is a South African music group formed in 1995 who specialise in kwaito music. The members Spikiri, Mahoota, Donald Duck, Jakarumba & Mjokes grew up together in the Soweto township and agreed to form a band after they had all completed their music studies in college. Beginning to make music in the mid-1990s, they released their debut album Sigiya Ngengoma in 1995. Trompies have since sold over half a million records and have become very successful in producing and managing other artists as well through their record label Kalawa Jazmee.

Mandla Daniel Mofokeng is a kwaito musician, singer and producer known as "Spikiri" from Meadowlands, Soweto and a member of the Kwaito group Trompies

Donald Mahwetša Laka, professionally known as Don Laka, is a South African jazz musician, songwriter and music producer, as well as the founder of "kwaai-jazz".

The airplay music charts in South Africa were gathered and published by the company Entertainment Monitoring Africa (EMA), formerly known as Mediaguide South Africa. It is a member of the Times Media Group, under Entertainment Logistics Services (ELS). The company provides a weekly top 10 airplay chart, which is available for viewing by the general public online. A top 100 is available for subscribed users of the company's website. The first top 10 airplay chart under the EMA was issued for May 21, 2013, with its first number one single being "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams. In 2014, the City Press wrote that the EMA charts were "regarded as the industry standard when it comes to tracking what songs are being played on radio". EMA currently monitors 48 radio stations and 8 television stations.

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References

  1. ↑ Joseph Nkosi. "Oskido Biography, Age, Restaurant, Wife, Albums & Net worth 2019". The Nation News. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 "DJ Oskido Biography: Age, Family, Wife, Career, Awards, Controversy, Net Worth". ZAlebs.
  3. ↑ "Oskido Biography, Age, Family, Music, Kalawa Jazmee, Net Worth". 22 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Brown, Daryl (15 February 2022). "How 'Amapiano', South Africa's soulful sound, has become one of the hottest new music genres". CNN. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  5. ↑ "Oskido – Keep The Faith EP". 28 November 2020.
  6. ↑ Sonile, Nokuthula (11 March 2014). "Oskido's hard work pays off - Midrand Reporter". Midrand Reporter.
  7. ↑ "Oskido and Msaki release new joint single, Sizophelelaphi | JustNje". JustNje. 23 July 2021.
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