‘On The SpotLight’ this week we have the ‘massively talented’ Pretoria based ‘House Music Producer / Deejay’ ‘Cornelius SA’. Born into a musical family, that is where ‘Cornelius SA’ acquired his ‘exquisite taste for music’. That paved his way to ‘multiple chat topping releases’ and ‘crowd captivating Dj sets’ on any dancefloor. With recent success under internationally acclaimed ‘Dopewax Records’ and being handpicked for this year’s ‘Red Bull Music Academy’ in Berlin, without any doubt there is more instore from ‘Cornelius SA’.
ShoMag: Thank you for taking some time out for this ‘one on one’, just so we can have a talk with you. Just to kick things off who is ‘Cornelius SA’ and where is he from?
Cornelius SA: I was born and raised by my Grandmother in Pretoria, Atteridgiville, South Africa. My parents bought a house in Soshanguve where my ‘interest for music was established’ and years later after my parents separated, I moved to stay with my dad in Mabopane, Pretoria, South Africa.
ShoMag: How did your ‘musical journey’ start, was music something you always wanted to be a part of or did it just grow on you?
Cornelius SA: ‘I’ve always wanted to study music since my first day in primary school’, I grew up surrounded by records and cassette players never had any toys, so I spent most of my time messing around with those. I was either recording my favourite shows and music on radio or recording myself singing on tape recorders. Listening to a bunch of ‘soul, reggae, jazz’ and a bunch of other amazing records my dad used to collect, contributed a lot to what or who I have become today.
ShoMag: In recent years we have seen some deejays ‘take on’ music production and some music producers taking on deejaying. Personally which space do you occupy within ‘House Music’, are you a music producer or a deejay or do you do both?
Cornelius SA: There’s a lot of us, there’s a lot of amazing music coming out of South Africa. Well, ‘I started off as a producer’ and on some cases I had to be out of studio to test drive my music so that led to me becoming a disk jockey after getting some lessons from friends on how to sync beats together on both Vinyl’s and CDJ’s.
Image By Benjamin Tilodi
ShoMag: You are praised within ‘House Music Circles’ for being ‘creative and for having a unique approach to sound’. How would you describe your sound and what inspires that sound?
Cornelius SA: My sound is very complex and straightforward, I try not to be hard on myself and do things I’m not familiar with, and so ‘I stick to the basics while making music’. I’m also open to learning new things and sharing ideas with fellow producers. Instead of making music all the way, I would rather open a huge gap, where I just sit and listen to tons of different kinds of music of the people I draw inspiration from.
ShoMag: That uniqueness has seen you work closely with internationally acclaimed ‘Kenny Dope’s Record Label Dopewax’, how did that come about and has that added value towards your art?
Cornelius SA: I didn’t know how I sounded until my sound grabbed the attention of the legendary and four time Grammy award nominee Masters At Work’s ‘Kenny Dope’ after ‘Swizz’ from ‘Surreal Sounds’ had sent him some of my newly produced work. I only submitted one EP I had worked on while everybody else was partying in Dec 16th 2015 and the following year it was signed and released on his Record Label ‘Sometimes less is often more’. I then received a message from ‘Tortured Soul’ about the song and later they requested a remix from me and that made me the third Producer to ever work with ‘Tortured Soul’ in the Country following on ‘MiCasa and Black Coffee’.
ShoMag: Throughout your ‘musical journey’, what would you list as your ‘biggest breakthrough’ thus far?
Cornelius SA: Working with ‘Kenny Dope’, remixing for ‘Tortured Soul’, releasing music with ‘Jullian Gomes and Kid Fonque’, playing in dope festivals and being part of the ‘Red Bull Music Academy’ in ‘Berlin’. I never thought that one day music will get me this far, I’m doing ‘Bushfire’ in Swaziland this winter, I’m returning to ‘Oppikoppi’ in August. I also have ‘My BEAT Movement’ which focuses on the electronic scene of Pretoria and discovery and the showcasing of new and unrecognised talent within the minimal, deep and techno spheres.
ShoMag: Later on this year, you will be among the sixty-one musicians handpicked from thirty-seven countries worldwide who will attend this year’s ‘Red Bull Music Academy’. On receiving such amazing news, how did it feel and what does it mean for you as a musician?
Cornelius SA: This means a lot to me and my entire career and I’m super excited and honoured to be representing my country In Berlin. I noticed that being different and sounding in your own way even when the audience is not large, doesn’t necessarily mean that you on the wrong path. ‘Keep doing you do and most importantly be the truest version of yourself’.
ShoMag: ‘Feel It Now’ has to be one of the hottest joints currently out. ‘Big up’ on dropping that tune with ‘Jackie Queens’. What was the inspiration behind that joint and how has it been received by ‘the masses’?
Cornelius SA: Thanks, I and Jackie had a session at the ‘RedBull Studios’ in Cape Town and we wanted to have a track together. There was no formula set as to how it should sound or what should inspire the song. ‘I believe it only took a positive mind-set, energy and direction to have this as our end product’. The song is received well to date, still getting charted and is a favourite from big names such as ‘Jullian Gomes, Floyd Lavine, MoBlack, Hyena, D-Malice, David Montoya, Hanna Hais’ and several others.
Image By Benjamin Tilodi
ShoMag: Musically, last year was a ‘very hectic year’ one for you musically. Any projects on the pipeline you are currently working on for this year?
Cornelius SA: Yeah, Sure I have a bunch of music I’ve been working on, some of it being ‘Afro House Beats’ I produced for other amazing vocalists. ‘Don’t be surprised when you see my name appear on some of forthcoming album credits’, so that’s basically that.
ShoMag: Looking at the future, which musician/s would ‘Cornelius SA’ wish to collaborate with and why?
Cornelius SA: I’m more interested and focused on getting a lot of Afro House producer’s remix my work. It doesn’t make total sense to have someone that make’s almost the same sound as me remix my work.
ShoMag: Last words on what we can expect from ‘Cornelius SA’ this year and is there any message you might have for your fans out there?
Cornelius SA: Yo, I’ll be working on my music as I normally do. ‘No pressure or focusing on what other’s do’. I got really big shoes to fill, so ‘less politics more music’.
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