Durban and Joburg producers fuse R&B with maskandi on new duo project

Two producers from opposite ends of the country have put out a joint project that sets R&B and soul against maskandi, and they say the sound was never planned so much as stumbled into.

Enox May and Keywave appeared on SABC News to talk about the release, which the broadcast introduced as the pair’s first joint bid for their sound. One is from Johannesburg, the other from Durban, and the project brings the two cities into the same room.

The pair described the result as fresh and nostalgic at the same time, like a love letter a listener has heard before but never in their own language.

What the name means

Asked to explain the idea to someone who has never encountered it, the pair reached for a word they said anyone from KwaZulu-Natal would recognise.

A binga, as they put it, is a person who takes pride in what they do and in their culture. Both producers are Zulu, and the project is an attempt to merge that world with R&B, drawing on the vibes and the lyrics of maskandi alongside the production they were already making.

The point, as they described it, is simply a new and refreshing sound.

How the two found each other

The collaboration began on Instagram. The Johannesburg producer said he had never heard love songs made the way the Durban producer was making them, set against modern R&B beats of the kind he was working on himself. He sent a message saying he liked the work and wanted to make something together.

They made a few tracks. The audience responded.

Both said they listen widely and that this is what keeps the sound moving. Recent listening, they said, has included Ethiopian jazz and a great deal of maskandi. They also draw on gospel, which they described as their own music, and said the approach is to experiment and create freely without overthinking it.

The Durban producer works on the beats, pulling samples and fragments from those genres, while being introduced to maskandi and Zion music by his partner.

What is coming next

On the summer season, both were careful. More shows are planned. Visuals may follow. Neither wanted to say much more, and the pair joked about the restraint being contractual.

They acknowledged the pressure of timing. They said that when they started this sound they did not know whether it would land, particularly in an era dominated by amapiano, and that it is hard to tell whether you are competing with a wave that is currently everywhere in the world.

They asked listeners who want the next project released immediately for patience. The work, they said, is still being figured out, and the intention is to make it more experimental and more creative.

On their fans, they said the response means a great deal, because the sound was a risk taken without any certainty about how it would be received.

They were introduced on the broadcast as a soulful duo and were due to perform later in the programme.

For South African listeners, the significance is straightforward. Maskandi is one of the country’s largest and most durable popular forms, and its meeting with R&B and soul production is the kind of cross-pollination that has repeatedly produced South African music with an international audience. Two producers working between Durban and Johannesburg, with no label machinery described and no release date announced, are doing that work at the level where it actually happens.

Source: SABC News (YouTube), MUSIC | The duo behind Ingoma Yomshado, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU_3004-qng