Mpondo finds his groove as second album awaits release

DJ Palture’s ‘Samba’ single already a success with fans

FROM being a resident DJ at a club to starting his own production company, East London’s DJ Palture has come a long way – and is now getting ready to release his second album.

DJ Palture’s (real name Aviwe Mpondo) love for DJing dates back to the early 2000s when he DJed at house parties and street bashes in Phakamisa Township outside King William’s Town. Five years on, he moved to East London, which saw him take his love for DJing to the next level.

“I got my breakthrough in 2005 when I became the resident DJ at Corner Pocket. I later moved to Rhythm Divine and that is where I got to share the stage with a lot of big names in the industry,” he said.

While keeping the masses entertained, Mpondo also started doing production work which led to him releasing his first single titled, Jungle Freak in 2007.

Later that year, he released an EP titled, The Advocate.

“My attention moved from DJing to production because I wanted to know all that goes into making a track,” he said.

In 2011 he formed a group called Elements of Soul as a producer. They released an album titled Music in Me and travelled all over the country, performing in Namibia, Angola and Botswana.

While the group was in Johannesburg, Mpondo also used the time to focus on his own solo project. His debut album titled, Palturised Nation Volume 1 came out in 2013 and one of his singles titled Molo featured Dumza Maswana.

“I moved back to East London in 2014 and I opened my own stable called Palturised Productions,” he said.

Mpondo is currently finalising work on his second album which will be released under Palturised Productions.

“It has not been easy getting to where I am now but I knew it was important for my music. At the moment I do not have any artists signed under the stable, it’s just me. I want to focus on promoting my music first before I can even think of signing other people. If there’s nothing to show, you can’t take other people on. Until I get to where I want I won’t be signing anyone,” he said. He has already released his first single from his sophomore album.

“The song Samba has already been play listed on Umhlobo Wenene FM and other stations around the province. It’s exciting to be getting support from home before we can take our music to the national level.”

Mpondo said he would be releasing a follow-up single in the next month or two before he releases his sophomore album.

Mpondo said he would be hosting a number of shows across the province as a buildup to the album release.

“It’s coming out this year but we haven’t chosen a date yet, the focus is on getting the singles out first and doing a lot of shows,” he said. —