Label of the Month: Gondwana

Nairobi has had the seeds of an electronic music scene since the turn of the millennium, but it never really belonged to locals. Imported international sounds like techno and particularly trance were dominant, and over time large-scale events grew to attract crowds into the low thousands. But the people on the dance floor tended to be transient visitors - international students, tourists or foreign professionals who came to work at the UN and didn’t really represent the community in which they partied. It was that which motivated Suraj Mandavia to start throwing occasional pop-up parties of his own. 

At that stage, he already knew fellow selector Eugene Onyango (aka Euggy) from gigging around the city in their early days, and eventually, he got involved as a partner. Eugene hails originally from Mombasa where there were even fewer parties. "Anything that happened, I was probably involved in making it happen" he says, and he brought that same energy with him to the Kenyan capital.

A few early parties took place at Crooked Q, which already hosted techno parties. "It was great and going well," he says, "but for Suraj and the other guy that was involved at that time, they felt like they could do an African version of this. So that's how Gondwana started."

Eugene played the second event and then came on board as a resident and partner. The pair soon started looking for new venues and hosted one-offs at a couple of other local bars and booked their first international artists. Eventually, they set up more permanently at a spot on Mombasa Road overlooking the Kenyan National Park.

"It was a terrace with views overlooking the amazing scenery of the Park and we thought it was perfect for us," says Eugene. The parties were hosted on Sunday afternoons which was a challenge at first as many people preferred to chill, but that time best reflected the "very mellow, eclectic, melodic, almost downtempo but not really downtempo" sounds they would play. For four years, the parties became ever more popular with locals before eventually outgrowing the space. During COVID, the pair threw their first outdoor events for almost 2000 people and haven't looked back since.

It was speaking to a friend who ran his own deep minimal imprint that inspired Eugene to think about expanding Gondwana into a label of its own. "I thought about all these artists I talked to in South Africa who made music, so when I met Suraj I pitched the idea to them and that's how it was born."

The first release in 2017 was "Tech Me To Bechuanaland" by Ace Mantez from Botswana and was a track Eugene had been hammering in his DJ sets for months. Getting it out into the world was, he admits, a steep but enjoyable learning curve. "Something we definitely had to speak about was the sound of the label," he says. "How we are connected to it, the future releases." He jokes that he and Suraj have very different tastes so the conversations "weren't the easiest," but they found common ground by deciding they would deal in "African electronic music" of many sorts.

"We don't want to just have one sound," explains Euggy. "We want to have a shop where you can come and find different things but obviously all created by us, so it can't be too out of place from our liking and our sound. We thought about how we could showcase Kenyan music next to the sounds of South Africa or Botswana or wherever, and it always had to be music we could play at the parties."

Like all good DIY scenes, Gondwana is a party and label by the people, for the people. It is independent and proud, and is galvanised by some core values that are all too often missing in the European and US scenes.

"Community and music are 100% our backbone," says Suraj. "Those are the two pillars that we stand by and it spans across so many different things, from the prices of our tickets to the artists that we bring, to the sponsors we work with, to the drink prices, the food prices, all of those things we feel play a huge role. And then the backbone has always been music, so everything that comes out Gondwana is inspired by those two core principles."

As well as that, he admits the aim is to try convert as many people as possible to listen to Afro house music. Many Kenyan locals still listen to international sounds and, if asked, "would probably know about house music, but would probably think it was white people music," laughs Euggy.

Releases came every couple of months at first from now household Afro house artists like Enoo Napa, Karyendasoul and Suraj himself, but then COVID hit and the dance floor was less in focus. It made sense to offer up more mellow sounds that suited home listening. It was a wise move that catered towards the boom in streaming in those times, but also helped establish Gondwana on a wider international plane.

With more ears brought more demos. Euggy says the label gets plenty sent each and every day. "But I prefer the approach of building a relationship with the artists. Beyond the music I need to also understand your character and your story and who you are. I want to find out what kind of person someone is. It doesn't affect the music but it affects the whole vibe of working together so I like to dig deeper into knowing who an artist is."

In September this year, Gondwana released its first and Miči's debut album, feelings, which features a wealth of collaborators and label associates such as Sbu YDN, Da Capo, Atmos Blaq, Kenza, and BokkieUlt. It's a beautiful record that perfectly embodies the label's mission - richly musical and deep house, Afro rhythms, authentic instrumentation and indigenous vocals from an array of African talents.

With the experience of the first album now under their belt, Gondwana will look to do more in future, but it isn't the main aim. Instead their goal is to work with local artists, give them a platform and help them on the next step of their career. They already have a "pretty basic" studio that they use for their own music and recording vocals but will soon open it up to others. "Now to put out song that's made by Kenyan artists, it's easier than it was six or seven years ago because we have the platform," says Euggy. "This is really nice and there's a more chance people are going to listen to it."

A lot of the music on Gondwana has a sophisticated, lush, hi-fidelity sound, even though the majority of it is made on laptops in bedrooms. Rather than an obsession with analogue gear and dusty aesthetics like European house music, Afro house is famous for its deeply moving melodies and sense of spiritualism, all of which reflects and draws upon many Kenyan musical traditions.

"For us, our music is 50-50 samples and original sounds," says Suraj. "We'll include guitarists, vocalists, things like that, and the reason why we have more melodic productions is to basically try and convert more people to listen to it. A huge amount of people go to church, and we have a lot of folk music, real musical heritage, and cultural instruments, so there are a lot of Kenyans who are instrumentalists who are ready to collaborate. The most important thing for us is to make sure there's no exploitation or cultural misappropriation whatsoever."

Gondwana has already hosted events around Africa in Nigeria, South Africa and internationally in the UK for up to 4000 people. The aim is to build on that and tune ever more ears into authentic Afro house sounds without ever losing sight of the brand's core principles.

"We want this to be bigger than us," says Suraj. "We understand the product we have, how unique and amazing it is, and we understand there is space for this music to be celebrated and showcased. We've witnessed the growth and want bigger collaborations, bigger shows, but still keeping music and community at the root of everything."

There is nothing else quite like Gondwana in Kenya, and now the wider world is also falling for its unique electronic charms.