Get ready to dance

SKETCHY BONGO: ARTIST IS ROCKING CARNIVAL CITY WITH HIS BEATS SOON

His music had spread like wildfire across YouTube and SoundCloud.

Nothing gets musiclovers in the mood to dance quite like the masked persona Sketchy Bongo, pictured. Armed with his turntables, he is heading for Carnival City on June 15. The 27-year-old Yuvir Pillay, much better known as Sketchy, discovered his passion for music at the tender age of 13. As a freshfaced teen, he and his friend Arnold “Aewon Wolf” Phillips and Slikour of Skwatta Kamp were producing beats and trying their hands at hip-hop music. A decade or so later, Sketchy started uploading videos and songs to YouTube and in no time his music had spread like wildfire across YouTube and SoundCloud, accumulating thousands of views and hits. Why the mask? Sketchy says, despite the fact that he is a major producer on the South African music scene, the mask helps him shy away from people and avoid the spotlight a

I put a ski mask on as a prop – and that became Sketchy Bongo.

little. The mask also came about just before a video shoot.

“Sketchy Bongo never had a ski mask. Sheen Skaiz, who I work with, was shooting a music video for a song he made. He had a ski mask in the car and I put it on as a prop – and that became Sketchy Bongo,” he says.

Ironically, the mask has drawn even more fans to Sketchy because it is proof that this incredible producer is more focused on music than fame.

He admits to this himself, saying that his focus is on music, art and business.

Sketchy forms part of a creative collective in Durban called Wolf Pack, made up of local vocalists, rappers, kwaito artists, video directors and even graphic designers who are all working toward putting their city and province on the map. This collective is also making known the digital availability and convenience of accessing songs online on platforms such as iTunes. – Citizen reporter

Yuvir Pillay, better known as Sketchy Bongo