There are two great reasons to visit Durban. The first is the city’s breathtaking coastlines, a postcard-perfect stretch of Indian Ocean magic framed by cultural diversity, spiced cuisine, and a tourism circuit that booms with heritage. The second? The music.
Durban is the beating heart of Gqom, South Africa’s thunderous, minimal, bass-heavy genre that once crept out of township bedrooms and car boots, only to flood the world’s most discerning dancefloors. It’s a city that gave us Grammy-winning global titans like Black Coffee and Zakes Bantwini, but it’s also home to a more underground revolution: the rise of GqomTech, a next-generation sound that’s as homegrown as it is futuristic. And one of the artists leading the charge is ZVRI, a Durban-born producer pushing the genre beyond its raw roots and into a more refined, genre-bending sonic architecture.
To understand GqomTech, you have to know where it comes from. Gqom itself emerged in the early 2010s, crafted on FL Studio software by bedroom producers across Durban townships like Clermont and Umlazi. Its name, Zulu for “drum” or “hit” mirrors its intensity: syncopated rhythms, haunting samples, and a relentless, stripped-down percussion that speaks to a kind of spiritual urgency. It was the anti-House, raw and industrial, made for backseat speakers and shebeen dances, not velvet-rope clubs.
But even in those early days, the seeds of experimentation were being planted. “One time, Okzharp said, ‘Do genres ever start, or do they evolve out of existing music/sounds?’” ZVRI recalls. “When I first heard Culoe De Song’s Rambo, it felt like the perfect fusion of AfroTech/electronic elements and Gqom. That moment made me realize this sound could be the future.”
ZVRI, like many Durban youth, was raised in a household that lived through music. His father played house records en route to school and while doing chores, an early sonic education that would later feed into the hybrid production style he calls GqomTech, also affectionately known as “Luxury Gqom.”
So what is GqomTech, exactly? For ZVRI, it’s a sonic upgrade, an intersection where Gqom meets AfroTech and melodic electronic music. “It’s characterized by arpeggiators, lead synths, and actual melodies,” he explains. “It’s still Gqom, but it’s polished, less repetition, more range.”
In practice, GqomTech stretches the genre’s limits while maintaining its pulse. Traditional Gqom is primal, instinctive. GqomTech is cerebral, cinematic, even luxurious. Think less taxi rank, more warehouse rave with a fashion week afterparty.
Durban’s ever-evolving scene nurtured that fusion. ZVRI remembers sneaking into “Explosion” gatherings in local parks, semi-legal taxi soundsystem clashes where DJs like Lag and Griffit Vigo tested out unreleased tracks. “It was like a school of Gqom,” he laughs. “The back seat of a four-sub taxi was where my sound was born.”
“The back seat of a four-sub taxi was where my sound was born.”
But to move the sound forward, ZVRI knew he had to move himself. Johannesburg, the economic and cultural capital of the continent beckoned. The shift wasn’t just geographical, it was philosophical. “Playing in Durban feels like the crowd understands my language. Joburg? It’s more curious. It’s a place where people are hungry for something new.”
That hunger has helped shape GqomTech’s rise. Johannesburg’s global-facing energy challenged ZVRI to think beyond local rhythms. “I’m not just making music for Durban anymore,” he says. “I’m making music for the world.”
“Playing in Durban feels like the crowd understands my language. Joburg? It’s more curious. It’s a place where people are hungry for something new.”
And the world is responding. Tracks like “Danger Zone” have landed on global platforms like Amazon Studios, and his recent single L F G is soundtracking dance classes and DJ sets from Tokyo to Moscow.
ZVRI isn’t doing it alone. GqomTech is bubbling with fresh energy from across South Africa. Producers like Deep Narratives, Dee Traits, Kiing Bhutie, FunkTone, and Da Young Ghost are expanding the blueprint. And collaborations with genre-benders like Kususa and DJ Tira blur the lines even further. “We speak the same language but in different dialects,” ZVRI explains. “That’s the magic of collaboration. It pushes the whole movement forward.”
There’s also an influx of young trap and alt-rap artists Sastii, Youngboyvegeta, and K.Keed among them jumping onto GqomTech beats, bringing new flows and flair to the genre. “It’s not a moment. It’s a movement.”
On May 30th, ZVRI will release his debut album, a full-bodied introduction to his world of GqomTech. The project promises not just sonic innovation but also emotional storytelling music that speaks to the streets and the satellites. With tour dates planned across South Africa and beyond, the GqomTech wave is ready to crest on global shores.
Looking forward, ZVRI envisions a world tour beginning in Durban and snaking through Jozi, Lagos, Nairobi, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, and Barcelona. “African sounds are the future,” he says. “And GqomTech is going to be a major part of that future.”
But more than that, he wants GqomTech to inspire: “I hope it motivates a new generation of African producers to innovate, push boundaries, and tell their stories through sound.”
And if Durban is where the story started, then ZVRI is making sure it doesn’t end there.
