Adjuma & Shredder SA are two artists who combine beautifully on their new Afro House release ‘We Belong’ on Mozambique-based label My Other Side Of The Moon. We caught up with them recently to see how they came together, and how their journey into dance music came about…
WWD: Hey! What’s your year been like so far?
Shredder SA: My year has been a developing one, the progress is amazing and unexpected.
ADJUMA: For me also, I’ve received a lot of love for my music. That keeps me going!
WWD: Tell us about your journey into music and how you got into producing?
Shredder SA: I fell in love with house music while I was younger and got inspired listening to music from Da Capo, Problem Child and the late Rider 502, that’s when I started my production journey and I’m a self taught producer.
ADJUMA: It started for me with hiphop and more Caribbean like music called bubbling when I was very young. Programs like “Madtracker” “reason” “cubase” came first and I just kept on playing with it.
WWD: What is your signature sound?
ADJUMA: I did a lot of different things with music. Many different genres and ghost productions. I took all those elements and tried to make them work within afro house. So my sound is very wide.
Shredder SA: My signature sound I guess is in the arrangement, percussions, the chords and how I play the bassline…
WWD: How has it evolved? How do you evolve and stay true to your signature?
Shredder SA: My sound nowadays it’s soulful but with moving percs and a Dope baseline and a little bit of tech sounds.
ADJUMA: Yes I think to try things out you normally wouldn’t do when producing for me.
WWD: What is your studio like? What gear do you use, hardware or software?
Shredder SA: Bedroom studio I use a laptop and headphones software fl studio.
ADJUMA: I’m working most of the time with Ableton live lately, and recording vocals in logic pro x. Most hardware I have seen and worked with there is a plugin for so we don’t need that much any more. Monitors and good acoustics are the most important for me. I do also work with a good pair of headphones in combination with a subpac in the evening, but I prefer monitors.
WWD: What is Afro House to you? Why do you love it?
Shredder SA: Afro House is home for my music it’s the African sound in it.
ADJUMA: I always had love for African riddims in music. I always felt like Afro House should be the biggest of all back in the days. Now I am fully committed to making it the biggest. Now another brick is laid down together with Shredder SA.
WWD: Should only artists from africa or with afro heritage make afro house?
No of course not. The beauty of Afro House is that it truly unites people. It’s a universal sound. As long people give the credits to the founding fathers of the sound.
WWD: What inspired your new tune on the My Other Side of The Moon label?
ADJUMA: The main melodies of the song started by Shredder SA inspired me a lot to keep it soulful while making it more banging with the big drums, percussions and the rest of the arrangement of the song.
WWD: How did you hook up with the other artists? Who did what?
ADJUMA: It started all with Shredder SA, he had made a nice vibe and sent it to Lyrical Ivy after he had heard the “show me” ep I thought. It was already something good she could write on but there was still a lot of space left because it was a demo and the arrangement was not completed yet. We asked shredder SA if I cloud finish the song together with Ivy and he agreed.
Ps. I also helped Ivy with those lower vocals in the harmonies you hear in the back. Those takes Hyenah had used in his Remix are my vocals hahaha.
WWD: What else have you got coming up?
Great things coming up. Keeping you posted on our socials.
@officialshreddersa
@adjuma.official
Shredder Sa & ADJUMA’s feat. Lyrical Ivy “We Belong” is out now on My Other Side Of The Moon
Grab it here