For over two decades, South Africa has been the cradle of some of the world’s most innovative electronic music movements: Kwaito, Gqom, Afro house, Amapiano, 3-step. Deeply rooted in Black South African lived realities, these aesthetics have crossed borders, disrupted Western club scenes, and redefined the grammar of the dancefloor.
But what happens when sounds born in the townships of Durban or Soweto—historically Black and economically marginalized spaces—are absorbed and often stripped of context by Western cultural industries? How do these musics travel? What do they carry—and what is lost? What legacies do they claim, and what forms of appropriation do they endure?

This roundtable is initiated by Dumbanengue, a Geneva-based association committed to the promotion, critical exploration, and networking around South African electronic music.
Co-produced with L’Abri, as part of Thelma Ndebele’s residency supported by Pro Helvetia, this roundtable marks the first collaboration between Dumbanengue and L’Abri. It reflects a shared commitment to building a lasting relationship between the two organizations, opening a space for dialogue across curatorial, artistic, and political practices around South African electronic music.

This event takes place within the immersive exhibition Afrosonica – Soundscapes, which explores the central role of sound and music in African societies and their diasporas.
Through instruments, sound archives, and contemporary installations, the exhibition highlights the power of sound to open minds, transmit knowledge, connect human and non-human beings, share emotions, and evoke memory.

Black Sound, White Ears ouvre la discussion au MEG avec Lynnée Denise, DORMANTYOUTH et Jamal Nxedlana. Modération : Isi von Walterskirchen.

Lynnée Denise (DJ SCHOLARSHIP)
Writer, DJ and interdisciplinary artist based between Amsterdam and Johannesburg. Creator of the concept DJ Scholarship, she explores Black electronic music as a living archive of diasporic and queer memory.

Thelma Ndebele (DORMANTYOUTH)
DJ, architect and researcher based in Johannesburg. Creative director of Groove Biennale Festival, they use DJ practice as spatial research to explore queer nightlife, placemaking and subcultural worldbuilding.

Jamal Nxedlana
Visual artist and cultural worker based between Johannesburg and Geneva. Founder of Bubblegum Club and member of CUSS Group, his work interrogates Black identity, subcultures, and fashion as a critical field.

Modération : Isi von Walterskirchen
Lawyer, curator and cultural activist with over 20 years of experience at the intersection of club culture, cultural policy and social innovation. She builds bridges between institutions, artists and political decision-makers.