DJ Mujava - Oxford Art Factory

Ever since I saw Cadenza’s head honcho Luciano at Pulse Radio’s Yacht Club last December, I wondered how long it would be before tribal house made a reappearance in Sydney. The intoxicating, percussive beats of tribal house seem to take a hold of anyone listening regardless of music preference, and you quickly realise that your fingers, last seen tapping in time lightly against your hip, are now discovering the hips of another. So when I heard that young South African producer Elvis Maswanganyi, or Dj Mujava as he is better known, was visiting our shores I clocked-on at the Oxford Art Factory for a nightshift of tribal goodness.

Having made our way through labyrinth of road closures as a by-product of the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, my friends and I arrived early to catch Jimmy Z warming up the dancefloor. I have a confession to make; I’ve only heard Jimmy from his commercial radio mix sessions and was highly surprised by his solid tribal warm-up (let’s face it, tribal isn’t exactly something that you hear outside of community radio!) Tapering off to the end of Jimmy’s set the crowd began to heave ever-so-slightly, brimming with enthusiastic anticipation and the sign of a perfect warm-up. Cue the headline act to enter the stage and to shift the party into overdrive.

For a moment there, I had to double-check that Dj Mujava didn’t bring a swathe of instruments from Pretoria in his carry-on, as that unmistakable African sound was coming through strong through the Art Factory’s PA. Unlike the later releases of Bob Sinclar’s ambitious Africanism releases, this sound carried in a perfectly natural way thanks to being anchored by a Studio 54-house flavour ala Erick Morillo and Little Louie Vega.  The effect on the crowd was clear; the number of beaming smiles made 38 Oxford Street the happiest factory in Sydney. There were one or two moments where my ears pricked on slight sonic warbles, but technical chin-stroking was not the order of the evening, not to mention that a perfect set from newcomers tends draw unfounded suspicions of pre-recorded sets! There was no such issue here, as Dj Mujava did what a lot of producers tend to lose sight of when performing dj sets – and that’s entertain the crowd, keep it fun and have the punters dancing in a pulsating, animalistic mass. 

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It’s with little wonder that the talented producer has been signed to Warp Records, home of Aphex Twin, Jamie Lidell and Flying Lotus, and judging by his performance we’ll be seeing a lot more Dj Mujava shortly.  I must commend the venue for its happy bar staff, short drink lines and plenty of dance space (although spilled drinks made the wooden portion of dance floor somewhat precarious). The audio-visual display by Eamon was phenomenal as the photos will attest to. Many left the Art Factory with a hot tribal injection administered by Dj Mujava, and hopefully that will be the shot in the arm required (sorry, couldn’t help myself!) for Sydney’s promoters to bring solid tribal acts back to the urban jungle. Steve Lawler or Cevin Fisher anyone?