On Song

From Durban and still just a teenager, Culoe De Song is taking genuine Afro-house out of the local taverns and onto the planet’s dancefloors.

After impressing as SA’s representative at 2008’s Red Bull Music Academy, Culolethu Zulu - as he’s known to the authorities stamping an increasingly busy passport: trips to Sonar in Spain and DJing jaunts in Italy, Germany, Belgium and Holland among them - caught the attention of some of the world’s most renowned house music operations.

Esteemed electronic music hub Resident Advisor invited him to contribute to their renowned weekly Podcast series, as did beat-portal Bodytonic. Then the German label helmed by Âme, Innervisions, released his brilliant ‘The Bright Forest / African Subway’ on 12”, and the A-side made its way into the sets of the international house cognoscenti.

The latest development in the Black Coffee protégé’s burgeoning career comes via MIO: he’s due to release an EP on Japan’s Mule Musiq, titled ‘The Fallen Shiren’, on September 28. This radical label has previously released breathtaking beats from fellow South African Brendan Moeller (aka Beat Pharmacy), DJ Sprinkles (aka Terre Thaemlitz), Isolee and Minilogue.
Eighteen-years old and already all-conquering, the sun’s certainly shining brightly for Culoe De Song.