The Mix 048: Gina Jeanz

Do you think we’re still trying to cater to a European audience to achieve a sense of success, even here at home?

Yeah, it’s interesting. Because tourists are coming to Africa to experience Africa, right? So they come looking for these amazing guys they hear coming through, but they somehow come expecting to hear the European style of Afro house they’ve been exposed to over there. Why would you come all the way here to have the Tulum experience? Why would you come here looking for an experience you’ve had in Greece? We have a totally different way of doing things here in Southern Africa. I do feel like line-ups are catered toward that now, and that affects ticket prices, but are people getting paid properly? I think that does compromise the music. How are we actually creating the music community for the next generation to come? I’m actually worried for artists that are coming up now, because it’s just this fight for attention and numbers, and people are so ready to just say, ‘let’s just throw away culture’.

So what do you think we need to do with this new energy, what are we doing wrong? How do we as Africans make sure that when people come for an experience, we show that we can offer up something that no one else can give?

We have to just do our own thing and cut through the noise. Because for me, it sounds like everyone’s using the same sample pack and the same vocal samples. And look, I’m not going to say I’m not guilty of it too… Splice is readily available to everyone. It’s just easier than ever to put out music at such a fast rate, and so if that is how we approach production from a throwaway, put-out-whatever culture, we’re not respecting the time it takes to actually sit and paint that canvas. I do feel like a lot of people are getting into the game for the wrong reasons, and you can hear it in the music. Now, if we can’t control our own narratives, i.e. with record labels, seeing our numbers, to just be pushing out content for the algorithm, then ultimately, we are contributing to this saturation of the sound. Of course, AI has come into play too, which influences how people produce. Everyone wants that hit, that social media moment that will get them that big stage or big show. So the question I have now is, how do we get back to our roots? Do we support our artists in a way that actually makes sense? Where are the spaces for us to thrive?

In my experience this past December, I played Sound of Summer and Amis Day Club here in Namibia, then played We Love Summer in Cape Town, and then a show with Kaytranada for the Milk and Cookies Festival afterparty in Johannesburg. We are now competing with ticket sales from big events. We are competing with big global acts and numbers, but even in this reality, people are taking their power back. DESIREE has her own party now, which I think is an inspiration to be like, it doesn’t matter how big your community is, if you do have the reach, just start something. I’ve seen it back home in Namibia as well. When I came back, I was like, ‘oh my God, they’re playing Afro house hard and heavy!’. Even Sound of Summer is a great example of that revival and resurgence of us taking our power back, our narrative back. Ultimately, we shouldn’t wait for anybody to see us, to acknowledge us. I’ve always had this idea and sense of how I operate in my career. You can’t wait for people to acknowledge you, you just got to do the thing, build your own. If the world is looking to Afro house and painting it in this picture, then we really just have to flip it on its head, you know.

It can be a powerful place to create from, when you start something unique and your own, especially when you’re doing it with people who really understand you. Tell me about the Sow and Sow creative partnership with your partner, and what it’s like to have complete creative control?

Being home with my label, and being home within myself is how I make the music and the progress that I do. It’s how I’m able to show up as my authentic self and sustain myself. I always ask myself how this feels for me first before I go outward. I love that I get to take my time, and that the narrative is coming directly from me. I have so much to say! There isn’t a pressure to release with anybody, and I’m taking my time defining my sound and style in my own way, having control of my own narrative. Now that I’ve settled from the move and transitioned into touring, I feel like this year, the story is slowly unfolding. For me as a Namibian navigating this journey “alone” in terms of not having people from home that are on this journey with me necessarily, I’ve really had to create my own home and create that space where I can really make things. It’s through working with my partner, it’s through working with my friends, it’s keeping the connections I have back home in Cape Town alive, which has just been the best space for me to really thrive.

My hope is to keep putting out bodies of work. AWEN spoke about this recently: people say no one listens to albums anymore, just put out a single, another single, another single. But I’m going to keep putting out bodies of work – I want you to listen to my catalogue and see the progression! My hope is that we’ll keep building the spaces that promote Afro house, amapiano and 3-step in its truest form, and welcome those who are genuinely interested in learning and growing with us. People are seeing our worth, so it’s time to take our power back.

Read this next: The Mix 029: Kampire

What do you think about power from the individualistic standpoint, where your taste, progress, and narrative doesn’t represent the greater culture you stem from? As Africans, it sometimes can feel like we’re typecast with all sorts of aesthetics or behaviours, even amongst ourselves, and even in how we express ourselves. In the age of Thebe Magugu and Trevor Stuurman, why do so many feel a resistance to trying something different?

Yes! Even the artwork for ‘Lifetime in A Dance’, I thought about using imagery that portrayed my culture, and that didn’t feel right. Muzi does this so well, and his heritage is prevalent throughout everything he does, in his production, style, everything in his own way. It feels authentic because it’s done right. You see, the community side of Africaness will never leave you – it’s embedded in us no matter where we go, so shining as an individual is a way of respecting yourself and carrying those values with you. There’s only something wrong with that when it’s driven by greed, greed in the sense where you forget the people who have helped you. Every period of my life there have been people who have contributed to where I am today and I’ll never forget them, and I honour them by stepping forward. Two things can be true at the same time, having this individual path but still thinking of community. You will leave your home one day, and that requires you to be aware of yourself, accept and understand your individual self. I’m really trying to identify what it is to be a Namibian electronic artist, and I don’t know what that will be like in the years to come, but it starts with the music. I have an Oshiwambo dictionary that I’m learning from to strengthen it, and there are a lot of little things I’ve added like using some rocks I brought from home that I was hitting on to make sounds. There’s a lot of ways to explore! I may not have that traditional Ovambo aesthetic, but I want to understand the history enough to respect it and find a way to grow into it. I want to take my time, go back, take what I need, and make it Gina Jeanz.

Phew! And lastly, let’s get into the mix. What’s on the menu?

My mix is a look into the two worlds I operate in as a producer and as a DJ. There are influences from 3-step and Afro house, and other electronic elements of course. As a producer I wanted to include songs from my latest EP, ‘Lifetime in a Dance’ in there as well, so we have ‘Emoko’ and ‘Eternal Now’ coming in. It’s great, because you’re gonna hear the transitions from a more high, heavy sound to energetic, and then more soulful stuff with the sounds of Hagan and Karen Nyame KG towards the end – and I just wanted to highlight the different influences there. It’s not the kind of set that’s meant to be played out at a festival, but this is a great way to look into my mind and how I DJ for myself.