Kampire curates East and Southern African music compilation, ‘A Dancefloor in Ndola’

Kampire has curated a new compilation of East and Southern African music, ‘A Dancefloor in Ndola’. The double-vinyl and digital package will land on 3rd August via Strut Records. 

The album’s title is taken from the Zambian town where Kampire grew up, having been born in Kenya to Ugandan parents. Over 13 tracks, the collection spans decades and genres, from the 1980s bubblegum popularised in South Africa’s townships, through guitar-led kalindula and Congolese rumba and soukous.

A particular emphasis is placed on female artists from the 1980s, including Pembey Sheiro, Feza Shamamba, Princesse Mansia M’bila, V-Mash and Di Groovy Girls. You can listen to V​-​Mash’s ‘Naughty Boy’ below. 

“It is important for me to continually reference Africa’s own musical history,” said Kampire. “At 17, I didn’t pick up on my Dad’s music, but now I love and collect those records. I’m constantly referencing them in my music sets today. 

“I love that feeling of shared nostalgia where people recognise a song they haven’t heard in a long time,” she continued. “There are styles of music on the compilation which are often considered unsophisticated from rural areas,” she continued. “I and other contemporary African artists and DJs draw inspiration from them; it is part of what makes us ourselves.”

Kampire is currently playing dates across Europe, including London’s Jazz Cafe on 24th May and La Mazette X Nyege Nyege in Paris the following day. She then heads to Umoya, Naples on 8th June. Later in summer, festival dates are confirmed at Barcelona’s Brunch Electronic (10th August) and Dekmantel Selectors (23rd August). 

You can pre-order the release on Bandcamp. 

You can revisit Kampire’s DJ Mag Fresh Kicks mix and interview from 2018 here.