Sho Mag Afro House Magazine
Siyanda Makanya famously known as DJ Kabila, is a South African deejay based in Durban with his roots from the dusty township of Mthatha, South Africa. His love for the deejay box dates back to the 1990’s. He has an undoubted gift of keeping a capacious, jam-packed dance floor on its feet the entire night.
DJ Kabila is not only a music genius behind the decks, but was also a phenomenal dancer prior to a car accident that left him wheelchair bound in 1999, this is evident in the manner which he still dances on his wheelchair. The dance floors have since been deprived of an incredible dancer. The time serving, ever-radiant and witty DJ Kabila’s love for music remained and still remains unmatched. It was exactly two months after his accident that he started exploring his talent with beats. His traction in rising above this life changing ordeal is remarkable.
The General as his peers call him, joined Soulistic Music in the year 2006. This label has been an incredible platform for this star with no limits. This opportunity brought about the inception of his career as a music artist. Kabila is not defined by his disability, he believes he is as good if not better than he was before his accident entertaining crowds is what drives him. Kabila made the move from busy Gauteng to royal KwaZulu Natal where without hesitation immediately won over party lovers in and around the province. He has played at international festivals and alongside some of the best international house acts like the renowned BlackCoffee, Osunlade, Ralph Gum, Rocco, Franck Roger and many others.
In 2007 DJ Kabila released his very own album titled Believe with the hit track Amantombazane which coincidently is his favourite track in the album. His album Believe was well received and saw him perform in various venues around the country. In the year 2011 he dropped the well-received Soulistic Music Cuts Vol. 1 Compilation Album. The album features the great BlackCoffee, MXO, Sai & Ribatone and American vocalist Marissa Guzman – Time to Go which had been nominated at the South African Music Awards under the category of the Best Remixed Tracks.
Makanya, the visionary got an opportunity of going to Miami Music Conference and was inspired by the great world deejays performing in the lined up concerts. Subsequently thereof, in the year 2003, the visionary worked on a concept that was aimed at celebrating his music and his brand, which was entitled Music Will Save The Day Experience. This bi-annual concept has two parts: 1 – Festival and 2 – Music Workshop. The festival is a two-stage fiesta consisting of Deep House, Electronic House and Live Art. Each stage is different, and offers a variety of sound to the audience attending. The music workshop is aimed at grooming young talent through a conference based, open ended conversational music workshop. The vision of this project is to nurture the talent and skills of the young upcoming deejays and artists from all works of life.
After the release of these two albums with the previous label, DJ Kabila began a new journey with his own label, Musiq Soldier Entertainment upon which he released his 3rd album titled Music Will Save The Day which features most of the then upcoming artists. In that album, he had the most jovial hit Atsha Pha feat. Toshi. This track was mostly loved and well received that it got itself a recognition across international borders and its remix was selected on DJ Black Coffee’s Ibiza’s Appreciation Mix. The album Music Will Save The Day also featured the song titled Fictional Chemistry which landed its role as number 1 on YFM’s Top 10.
Apart from establishing his company, Musiq Soldier Entertainment in 2007, Kabila also founded Beyond Disability Organization designed to champion the side-lining of the disabled community, and improving the standard of Living for the physically disabled public. Beyond Disability has had plenty of concepts since its inception, the most recent one is Able Together. Able Together is an awareness campaign about accessibility. The first instalment was aired on SABC1. Able Together encourages the able bodied and people living with disability to be treated equally. This is a campaign that is totally unique and caters for everyone; whether disabled or not, in a safe, vibrant, and accommodating space.
The Year 2019 has been a splendour for DJ Kabila. He blessed us again with a very inspirational hit song Somnyama – feat Wendy Soni. The blazing Somnyama is a song that celebratesb black beauty, black excellence, and black pride; a song inspired by resilient African Black Women. Victors who raised and continue to raise this African nation: from the icons like mama Winnie Madikizela Mandela, to your sports personalities like Caster Semenya, to writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, to photographers like Prof. Zanele Muholi; and once-in-a-lifetime singers like mama Miriam Makeba. There is no coincidence that Dj Kabila is on a national tour this August, the nationally celebrated Womens month; as the song Somnyama represent the beauty of strong hard working women.
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