Name: BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness)
Members: Nkosi "Jovi" Zithulele, Kgomotso Mokone, Thabo "Cheex" Mangle, Mritho Luja, Lehlohonolo "Hloni" Maphunye, and Skhumbuzo Mahlangu
Nationality: South African
Current release: BCUC's Millions Of Us will be released on June 2nd 2023.
Recommendations: Floyd Avenue - a clothing designer / engineer from Soweto. He is from the legendary Smarteez collective. He has recently shown his works at Milan fashion week and he is a staple in Africa's fashion weeks.

If you enjoyed this BCUC interview and would like to stay up to date with the band and their music, visit them on Instagram, and Facebook.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Different kinds of music demand or dictate how they need to be listened to.

I listen with my heart but my skin is a sensor to the vibes. The ears are a vessel that delivers the sonic pictures.

What were your very first steps in music like - and how do you rate gains made through experience versus the naiveté of those first steps?

We are lucky because, as a band, we are constantly living in a world of first steps. What this means is that  we are still naïve - we are constantly the new or unknown band in most of the places we go to.

Gains are tricky to measure because one always sees the world through different eyes everyday and it depends on the mood, location, scale and mostly what you are going through currently. So we choose not to measure gains.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

At that age music for me was an escape to the world that I saw on TV and heard on radio. It was dreams and fantasy.

Now I am opening portals and curating dreamscapes. I am transporting the listener to the world that I helped build.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools and how have they shaped your perspective on music?

Literally it is the drums. Also, African traditions, and, more specifically, the South African spirit of not knowing how to give up.

Maybe the most important tool has been the contentment in acknowledging that our path is different than that of any other group / band. In turn we write our own scrolls in our language (our way).

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

The most vital thing about how we elected to approach our music is that we don't have a format because our instruments themselves are a key. They are the only limitation to where we can take our songs.

We are motivated by the fact that we are already 20 years deep in our journey and we are trying not to die without something to show (impact).

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

That is great to know that our introspective view is similar to a giant of sound and thought, especially because we are from South Africa - a place where he has had a massive impact to most of our lives as artists.

Just because our instruments themselves are somehow unique in how we chose to combine them, we tend to veer more towards being accessible and current in how we deliver what could easily be extremely alien.

We are where Pop will end up being at. We are the template to how the noirmotherland can reclaim hip hop and rock and roll.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

My favourite is the sound of a rain storm. It sounds like a sick orchestra with the winds on the brass section and strings, thunder on drums, rain as the choir also on raps. And let's not forget the lightning on visuals.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

This sounds like you have just described our range or have you just looked at our arsenal, let it be known we did not pay you.

Seriously though we do all of the above because we are seven on stage and our mission is to evoke emotions that you did not think you have. So we are hard but very soft, we are extremely loud but we have moments of silence (total silence in our set). We are so simple about how complex we are.

From symphonies and traditional verse/chorus-songs to linear techno tracks and free jazz, there are myriads ways to structure a piece of music. Which approaches work best for you – and why?

We certainly don't have a formula nor do we have limits. We do what comes to us at the moment (most of our songs are freestyles that we learn and turn into songs).

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

Thongalami (that is the name of a track that will be on our album or dub plate). This was a freestyle that we collectively improvised on the rhythm we were playing from time to time. But on the day of the recording it sounded like it was conducted by the spirit of our ancestors.

Sometimes, science and art converge in unexpected ways. Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

I suspect the greatest science experiment in this context is how we even made this (weird music) work. Our music is South African because it is performed by South Africans but it ows no allegiance to any geographic location.

Even if we were from any other country we were going to use the drums, the strings and rock, rap, sing and funk the hell out of our beautiful souls.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

Definitely, we are a true reflection of every word that we utter. Our name itself says volumes about the kind of people that we are and our intentions with the gift that we have inherited.

Music is one of the vehicles that we can use to transcend realms and become oracles between worlds awake, passive or asleep. We live in and around spiritual / mystical pathways. We are of the people that speak with the non living. We live in the world of spells and unimaginable mythical existence. Are you still sure you want to understand our life?

Maybe let us just delete both these long preposterous paragraphs and just listen to our music with your soul and draw your own unfiltered and undirected conclusion.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Nothing is more special or important than the other generally I suspect. Like for example there are amazing coffee makers and a lot of extraordinary folks depend on that perfect cup of coffee every morning. It never is just about coffee (the task) who makes the coffee? Where are they from? How is the environment their energy envelopes you into. Why did they choose to make coffee when (judging by the calibre of person that they are) they could be much more than the coffee maker.

For us, just like my imaginary kick bottoms coffee maker, it is about servitude. What or where is the most approximate place where I can live my life as truthful yet the happiest while affecting other people's lives positively.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

“Earth song” by Michael Jackson, especially on the video. I know he speaks English but I sometimes am just too lazy to carefully listen to a song word for word because I initially get drawn by how the song makes me feel.



Even as I speak I see him dancing (ish) whilst the wind is pushing him and everyone back. His intensity and resolve just takes my breath away. The cinematography, the different ethnicities being affected by the same thing. I can't hear what he is saying most of the time because I am already just lost in my feelings and the mayhem happening infront of my eyes.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I wish that all kinds of music should be given the same platform and respect. I wish for musicians and everyone that supports and live through music to never think that they are fighting a loosing battle.

I wish that you could see that you are changing peoples' lives and it is unfortunate that music can't be worn like clothes. But please know that you venues / festivals / promoters / agents / technicians and journalists … you are all appreciated by all of us the music lovers. WE SEE YOU.