DJ Dictators!

"A-Mao-zing!"

After shaking hands with Daniel and Jarryd, we sit down on the couches in their Woodstock studio and before I can start with the questions, Daniel jumps up and disappears around the corner, only to quickly return with a feather duster. With an extra-large Coke can in his one hand, he dusts the table using the other, “it’s so sandy in here,” he adds as both of them laugh.

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” says Daniel.

Daniel Ting Chong and Jarryd Kin are the Cape Town DJ/VJ duo called, Mao. After their debut gig for Brick City at Fiction, a showcase for new talent, they have received “a massive response,” says Jarryd and have gone on to performing at The Assembly for one of their weekly See You Next Wednesday parties, which has been their favourite gig so far.

These “Chinese guys with white-boy names,” are creating a stir in the music world. They’re showing people that they can take what they do seriously without losing their natural quirky personalities.

“Who are these kids?” is a question they’ve been faced with but they prefer to let their music do the answering for them. “We’ve moved up quite quickly,” says Dan but Jarryd modestly adds that “It’s about who you know,” that has given them the extra boost. They also take credit for being one of the few audio-visual duos on the scene and this is backed up with an energetic stage presence and a set that has a theme and consists of Dutch house, Electro, Dub Step and Drum & Bass. “There’s a lot more attached to it. There’s depth.”

Both Daniel and Jarryd have creative backgrounds and work as designers and illustrators by day. Jarryd, who is originally from Johannesburg, moved to Cape Town and that’s when they set their idea in motion, “we were always kind of joking about it and when I moved down, Dan was like, “okay let’s just do this!””

They admit that it hasn’t always been smooth sailing but when a problem arises, they handle it as best as they can and with a sense of humour. Dan recalls, “We played a show in Joburg and the visual connection didn’t work, so instead Jarryd danced on stage with his laptop held in front of him for like an hour.” Jarryd adds, between laughter, that it still earned them, “some groupie loving.”

They've recently bought themselves the Traktor Kontrol S4, a high-tech piece of equipment, which they admit is both for them and their audience. “It’s cool putting a lot of hours into our set and then seeing the hard work materialise,” says Jarryd.

As for the future of Moa, they’ve set their sights on getting booked to play Oppikoppi, a music festival held in Limpopo, and perhaps one day playing for one of Cape Town’s big outdoor festivals such as, Earth Dance or 

even Synergy.

The boys making people dance.

*If you're in Cape Town tonight, Come through to Assembly and catch Mao's delicious set!

Hope to see you there :)