Ten years ago, ULTRA South Africa planted its flag in the fertile soil of a country already rich with rhythm. What began as a satellite event of one of the world’s most iconic electronic music festivals has since evolved into a cultural pillar—one that now stands not just as a celebration of global dance music, but as a stage for Africa’s most innovative sonic exports.
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As ULTRA SA celebrates its tenth anniversary, the spotlight turns unapologetically to Afro House—a genre that has traveled far from its underground roots to become the beating heart of South Africa’s dance music identity. From the pulse of the Resistance Stage to the sweat-slicked intimacy of the Clubhouse and Groove Stages, this year’s lineups are love letters to South Africa’s sonic spectrum—threading Afrotech’s hypnotic grit through deep house’s soul-soaked chord progressions, and into the entrancing cadence of amapiano and gqom’s love-child, 3 Step. What was once dismissed by purists as a “bastardisation of house” now stands tall as the continent’s proudest rhythmic rebellion.
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At the heart of this evolution are sonic architects like Black Coffee and Da Capo—artists who’ve not only graced ULTRA stages, but have redefined them, channeling the spirit of a scene that’s no longer rising, as the world looks up to South Africa’s unique and innovative club cultures.
From the open air house havens of Johannesburg to the neon skyline of downtown Miami, few artists have charted a course as resolutely global—and simultaneously rooted—as Black Coffee. The Durban-born DJ, mogul and producer has long stood at the intersection of African pride and global recognition, and nowhere is that synergy more evident than in his relationship with ULTRA Music Festival.
It was 2014 when ULTRA South Africa first unfurled its colossal canopies in Cape Town and Joburg, with the Black Coffee moniker etched proudly on the bill—side by side with titans like Tiësto and Martin Garrix as a homegrown hero standing firmly on a platform that had, until then, been the playground of European and American headliners. In a brief profile for ULTRA’s UNCUT MIAMI series, he offered viewers a glimpse into his world, expressing the fears that often come with blending precision with purpose and art with ancestry, as an Afro House pioneer: and in 2022, went on to become the only dance music producer from Africa to win a GRAMMY in the Best Dance/Electronic Music category for Subconsciously. That same year he stepped down from the Ultra stage to make room for the young artists coming up behind him, and there have been plenty more to carry the torch.
Cece Smith 