Sbucardo da DJ
Gqom producer
In current gqom discourse, Sbucardo occupies something of a liminal space that has nothing to do with the music’s success in Europe and its reformatting locally.
Widely considered as one of the genre’s stylistic innovators — perhaps the single most notable Sbucardo contribution to the genre is his trademark spliced vocal sample, a trick he invented using the distinctive voice of Durban kwaito legend Mampintsha.
In a sense, this was Sbucardo’s signal to the world just how the underdogs would overturn Goliath’s reign by using his own tools.
So if you observe the concerted moves Mampintsha’s West Ink Records is making to gain a foothold in gqom, know that to a degree this is Sbucardo’s legacy.
These are the fruits of his tireless criss-crossing of small-town KwaZulu- Natal and, increasingly of late, the entire country.
Listening to some of his recent uploads, Sbucardo da DJ seems to have been tinkering with his own formula, moving away from the edgy syncopated sound of his past into a more four-to-the-floor aesthetic, as if chasing his own tail.
“That’s not entirely true. I have been upgrading my studio and to put out the gqom sound I am known for, I have to be able to hear those kicks loudly and clearly. 2016 was a little difficult in the sense that I was working in other people’s studios, while putting together the capital for the upgrade,” he says.
For 2017, Sbucardo lists a host of talent he will be working with, including producers and even R&B singers. Mark this year as the return of the shadowy Sbucardo.