South African born, Berlin-based Lakuti (Lerato Khathi) is a force to be reckoned with. While she might not be a household name in South Africa these days, she has been making quite an impact on the European electronic music scene for over 20 years. In her extensive career, the DJ, label head, promoter, booking agent and LGBTQI advocate has racked up all the accolades in the music industry could ask or hope for whilst also giving back to the community. Like many promoters turned DJs, Lakuti started out DJing by playing records at her own events. Lakuti found her love for electronic music as part of the 90s electronic music scene in South Africa attending warehouse parties before making London her home in 1997. From there, the world was her dancefloor.
In London Lakuti started up the Süd Electronic parties and label alongside fellow South African Alan Abrahams, aka Portable. Together they injected fresh flavours into the London scene for a decade before moving on to new ways to spread good music across the globe. In 2007 Lerato established Uzuri Recordings and later the Uzuri Artist Booking & Management Agency which came about by chance. “The funny thing is that the agency and the DJing kind of happened by chance really. I never actively pursued being a booker nor a DJ career. The agency came because I met a North American artist once whom I really rated musically. At the time I was putting on the Süd Electronic parties and I booked him. He was desperate for an agent and he thought I would make a good one. I was sceptical but decided to help him out and the agency grew from strength to strength. ”
Since then, Lakuti has put on artists like Levon Vincent, Joey Anderson and Fred P at clubs and festivals around the world, toured the world as a DJ, played a banging Boiler Room set, booked lineups for the likes of Lux in Lisbon, and Oval Space in London, and she and her wife Tama Sumo have also curated lineups at the legendary Berghain/Panorama Bar. What I’m saying is, she keeps busy. Lakuti has a particular love for the granddaddy of house music Chicago House but is known for giving an education in dance music from across the world and across the decades in her sets. You can hear this legendary DJ spin live for yourself as she returns to South Africa this Friday 10 January at The Third Place
Listen to one of Lakuti’s mixes here in anticipation for Friday.
