Having been recognised by ‘traxsource’ as the ‘number one Afro House Music producer for 2017’. It comes as no surprise that ‘Enoo Napa’ has had an amazing year, as 2017 was the busiest one of his career to date, where he produced a staggering fifteen remixes and twelve original jams within just eighteen months. We have also seen him ‘Globe Trot’ to Spain (Ibiza) where he played at the glamorous ‘Club Hï’s Closing Party’ as well his memorable debut set at ‘BlackCoffee’s Block Party’. We welcome ‘Enoo Napa’ on our ‘SpotLight’ this week.
ShoMag: First and foremost, let us thank you for your time. Up until last year, a lot of people knew nothing about you. Who is ‘Enoo Napa’ and where is he from?
Enoo Napa: Thank you for having me. For those who don’t know, my real name is ‘Siphiwe Mkhize aka Enoo Napa’. I’m a self-taught music producer born in KwaZulu Natal, Durban, in the township called ‘Umlazi’. I’m also a Dj and currently signed under ‘Soulistic Music’.
ShoMag: Your journey in music, how did you get into music, was music something you have always wanted to be a part?
Enoo Napa: Honestly no, I grew up taking part in almost every activity around happening around my neighbourhood and at school, from ‘soccer, track & field, all the way to dance and drama’. The music production phase came when I decided that ‘I’d love to dance to my own beats’. I started collecting production softwares and playing around with them, ‘making up-tempo dance beats in 2007’.
These beats didn’t really make a lot of sense and would range from 135 to 140 in Bpm. I really didn’t know what I was doing ‘hahaha’, however as time went on I then found a way to ‘have them make more musical sense’ and eventually the tempo dropped.
ShoMag: When did you notice that you had ‘passion for music’ and out of all the ‘music genres’ one can pick from, why choose ‘house music’?
Enoo Napa: I actually produced ‘Rap, RnB and Hip Hop beats’ before House music. I switched to house music around 2010 or 2011. I was totally clueless mind you. ‘I loved what I heard from collecting Dj Fresh compilations’, also from what I heard from brothers like ‘Blaq Soul, Culoe De Song, Infected Soul, Da Capo’ and others, back when there was still ‘Afrodesia Mp3’. I then started putting together patterns based on what I heard out there. It took me a long while before I started incorporating my own ideas and that was around 2013.