Music collective Batuk announced this afternoon on social media that South Africa’s DJ Spoko, real name Marvin Ramalepe, had died at 35 due to complications arising after he fell ill with chronic TB while on tour in Glasgow.
DJ Spoko is famous for his Bacardi house style, the genre he invented and that now rules over the clubs of Atteridgeville. He also contributed production to one of the most iconic dance tracks to emerge from South Africa, DJ Mujava‘s “Township Funk”.
He declared that his interest in music began while he was in Soweto: “People were telling me there were Shangaanis working on electronic stuff, so I went to check it out. I ended up spending three years of my life there, studying the style of music, sound engineering and production”.
On Music In Africa in 2015 he told to fledgling DJs : “If you’re real with yourself, you mustn’t worry about the songs that get scrapped or the music you’ve lost along the creative process, just keep making music and build up a fan base”.
You can listen to his most recent release below.
