Sho Mag Afro House Magazine
On this week’s ‘Spot Light’ we have the ‘Pure Surprise’ hit maker ‘UPZ’. It was ten years ago (2007) when ‘UPZ’ dropped his self titled debut album which featured the smashing hit ‘Pure Surprise’ . ‘Pure Surprise’ was a hit throughout 2009 as it blazed ‘Mzansi’s Dancefloors And Music Charts’. That successful offering was followed by his second album ‘Pioneers of House: UPZ’ (Soul Candi) where he worked with ‘Black Coffee, Black Motion & Qness’.
As he celebrate his ’10 year milestone’ within the music industry , we talk about his fresh release ‘Drop It’ and everything in-between.
Sho Mag: Let us take this time and thank you for hitting us up with a ‘one on one’. Can we start by asking who is ”UPZ” and where is he from? Just for the benefit of those who might not know who he is.
UPZ: Thank you guys. ‘UPZ’ is my artist name and I’m a producer/DJ born in Tel-Aviv, then moved to Kenya as a kid and after two years we moved to South Africa and we stayed here till varsity. I am currently living in both Tel-Aviv & occasionally here in Joburg.
Sho Mag: How did it all start for ‘UPZ’? By that I mean how did you get into the music industry? Was it something you always wanted to do and are you from a musical family?
UPZ: As a teen I picked up various music instruments like ‘keyboard, guitar’ and ended up in a few bands playing ‘indie and jazzy stuff’ when I was still at varsity and just after that. I didn’t fully connect to the band dynamics and a few years later got introduced to music production by a friend and that’s when things changed. After dabbling in various genres, I got drawn more to house music and started honing my skills; I eventually got my first release on ‘CR2 (UK label)’ and my first few releases were on ‘vinyl’.
I am not from a musical family (except my Dad played the accordion lol) and I guess, I really wanted to do music full time when I discovered production which I felt was my ‘calling’.
