#MusicInTheAir Podcast hosts this week :
JABZZ DIMITRI

Villahangar is going to publish “Broken Melodies” (10/12/21), the new track by Jabzz Dimitri and Leo Guardo feat. Priscilla that sees the collaboration of two DJs and producers: Jabzz Dimitri, originally from the city of Welkom in the Free State, who moved to the capital of South Africa Pretoria, and Leo Guardo, a musician and sound engineer of Italian origin who currently lives in Melbourne and who with Villahangar has already released last summer the track “Mbokodo” Feat. Tabia.

The protagonist of today’s #MusicInTheAir Podcast is Jabzz Dimitri, who has been in the music industry for more than 10 years as a DJ, producer and event organizer.

Aggressive, Innovative and cutting edge are the three best ways to describe his style. He tells: “My music journey began in back in High school when I used to Dj at most of the house parties coz I was the only student that owned a sound system. I was born and raised in a small mining town in the Free State called Welkom, House music compilations back in the day were a big thing in S.A and it has a lot of influence on my music style today, especially Africanism compilations”.

His musical style today is inspired by the Afro aggressive sounds, be it percussions drumz or melodiesa, anything that he relates with musically or spiritually, and has evolved over time, adapting with the changes but not losing his signature sound: influenced by afro jazz, afro soul, and many afrobeat sounds that contain some musical elements.

He is very active on the radio: Jazz Dimitri currenty does mixes on Radio 2000, and has also collaborated with drumz Radio, a boutique radio station based in the UK, to introduce a new show called “Drumz Radio Live” which it’s main focus is to introduce Afro House and Afro House djs / artists to the rest of the globe.

An Afro and Soulful house producer who has released tracks with talented vocalists such as Dawn Tallmen (The Reason), Thiwe (Love Is Special), Thantaswa (Spirit of dance) and many others.

For “These Words” track he has collaborated with the super talented UK based producer UPZ and Kevin Maduna on vocals which is his best collaboration to date. It released under SoWhat records, a boutique label based in the UK, got playlisted on major radio stations in South Africa: Ukhozi FM, Radio 2000, Lesedi FM & Motsweding FM.

Recently he has released 3 singles: his last release “Amadlozi” feat. Tabia was release of the day on Traxsource on the same day of its debut. Amadlozi was also the number one song on iTunes (Apple Music Dance) for two weeks.

Amadlozi peaked at number 4 on most bigger Sudafrican radio stations: Metro FM Top40, the charts of bigger radio station of the country and it was in the top 20 of

most played song on South Africa Radio stations.

Internationally he had worked with different labels such as Merecumbe, Open Bar Music, and locally it has been with Vth Season.

Jabzz Dimitri is also partner of J and K Media, a multimedia company that he has been running for the past 7 years and he is very active in organization of events: with J and K Media he host on of the biggest annual South African events calls 057HC www.057hc.co.za: founded by him in 2013, the event is attended by over 10k people and happens on the 26 of December in his Hometown, Welkom, and has hosted the likes of Louie Vega and Anane Vega/Tortured Soul/Black Motion/Black Coffee/Djeff and many other great artists.

What did you do in the making of the track Broken Melodies, which will be released on Friday December 10th on Villahangar?

I created the foundation for the song and Leo gave it direction.

How did your meeting with Leo Guardo happen?

Leo worked on my a remix on one of my previous singles “Amadlozi” his remix stood out from the rest, we started following one another on social media and started talking.

What are your plans for the present and the immediate future? Do you have any new projects coming up?

My Plans for the immediate future is to release as much quality music as I possibly can and in the future tour around Europe (2022) playing in different clubs or music festivals and learn the events culture that side.

What do you think about the South Africa music scene? What do you think are the differences with Europe?

In my opinion electronic music on the international scene has evolved and it is established. South African music scene is broad and it is influenced by a lot of cultures, e.g We have SA Hip Hop, Mapiano, Deep House, Afro House and that makes it very unique coz under one event we can all enjoy different kinds of musical genres.

How do you live now and have you experienced in the recent past this particular moment for humanity of epidemic? How did you make up for the lack of being able to travel for your inspirations?

I think what has kept me going through this new normal is being in studio and making music and hopefully I will be able to travel again through my music.

How were the months of July and August for you? Have you had any DJ sets? Restrictions permitting, but now the clubs are gradually resuming business, do you have dj sets planned at the moment for the future?

July and August were not too bad for me, I have had a couple of dj sets since then and a residency during that period but now I want to focus on more studio and releasing more music. I would like to release an EP and do a little tour for my EP starting in South Africa, some parts of Africa and possibly in Europe.

Given the difficulties of the pandemic of the past year, which we now hope have been overcome, how do you deal with the issue and in what direction do you think the music world should move to overcome the impossibility of live events?

It’s difficult to say because unfortunately the government controls everything but with regards to event space by putting all the safety measures in place and convincing the patrons and the authorities about the safety is the only option for live festivals.