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Ralf GUM’s music career dates back to 1990 when he started out as a DJ before establishing himself three years later as a full-on institution within the industry with own productions. Since then Ralf evolved to one of the ‘most respected figures’ in the House Music scene called a ‘pioneer and global House Music superstar’ by others, while his secret is simply to keep absolutely fervid about real music. Always staying ‘true to his passion and attempting to enhance the genre’, he is globally renowned for his ‘exceptional productions and DJ-sets’. On our ‘SpotLight’ this week, we take some time out and find out what has ‘Ralf GUM’ been up too.

ShoMag: Before all goes down, let us thank you for taking some time out of your busy schedule, just so we can have a talk with you. Just for the benefit of those might be wondering, who is ‘Ralf Gum’ and where is he from?

Ralf GUM: I am a music producer, label-owner and DJ who was born and raised in Germany for almost 40 years, I lived in Spain for one and half years and in 2012 my wife and I decided to relocate to South Africa, where we feel at home since.

ShoMag: As ‘Mzansi’ know you are a man of many talents. How did it all start for ‘Ralf Gum’? By that I mean how did you get into the music industry and how is your musical journey going so far?

Ralf GUM: As a teen I started out as an ‘avid vinyl collector’ and playing my collection to others led to DJ-ing. The thought of making a career out of it only started after I got my hands on studio equipment for the first time, around 1990 or 91 and while studying civil engineering. I still finished the studies and even started another one thereafter, as I was not able to make a living out of my passion yet, ‘but already spent more time producing music than actually studying’. Thanks to the musical output, nationwide and eventually internationally bookings started to come in. Until around 1996 I still played and produced in a team called ‘Gum Team’, but ‘Axel’ decided after studying the classic route of working in his profession was the way to go for him. Of course I continued DJ-ing alone and ‘never stopped producing’. For gigs I used to be on the road a lot more before the move to SA. As the German scene only had a few locations where one really could play soulful House Music, my market had to be the world and I steadily was travelling. Mzansi offered the luxury of having plenty good gigs ‘at home’. So this also enabled me to be ‘a caring father’, while still putting my full effort into everything music.