DJ and producer Simple Tone chats to us about his music career and new single, We Are One. By Kwanele Mathebula
I was born and raised in Orlando East, Soweto. As a child, I enjoyed listening to music and would record it using cassettes. While listening to music, I came across popular DJ’s such as the late Khabzela, Louie Vega, Dj Kent and Black Coffee who inspired me to become one. I then taught myself how to DJ, and my career kicked off.
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Music is largely influenced by raising awareness of the social issues plaguing our communities. Growing up in Soweto, I was exposed to xenophobia, domestic violence and poverty. This inspired me to use my music to raise awareness and encourage people to empower each other. I also translate this into my music videos.
Collaborating with award-winning duo Black Motion and Aruba Beats has been great for my career. In 2011, I created an instrumental song titled We Are One which was only meant for Djs. Before releasing it, I sent it to Thabo, one of the members of Black Motion so that he could listen to it and tell me what he thinks. I decided to release the song when I didn’t hear back from him. Late 2018, Aruba Beatz decided to revive the song by adding vocals to it and gave it a whole new meaning. This has exposed me to the house music industry in a way I couldn’t have imagined.
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I am looking forward to releasing my debut album. I am currently working on new music that will be part of my album. I can’t wait for my fans to get to know me more through my music.