Lakuti
(Uzuri Recordings , Süd Electronic ) - Dj - London - United Kingdom
Lerato Khathi aka Lakuti emerged out of the ruins of a post - apartheid South Africa. Growing up in an impoverished Soweto in Johannesburg .Lakuti took a deep interest in music from a very young age . Inspired by her mother’s impressive collection of Soul & Funk . Her grandfather also played a significant part in further nurturing her musical interest by schooling her in the art of Jazz. She inherited his jazz collection when he passed away and to this date has held onto every piece of vinyl from this collection .The biggest influence & inspiration was to come however with the first batch of Chicago house records, which made their way into the township .
Her first adventure onto a musical path came when she convinced an empty 100 capacity theatre in a then arty Yeoville - a suburb in Johannesburg , to let her use the space as a small club in the early 90’s , whilst embarking on a Law Degree . Planet hendon was born . She succesfully run the space for 2 years & in that 2 years the club saw dj sets from the cream of the crop of dj’s at the time in Johannesburg . Around the same period , she met Alan Abrahams aka Portable/Bodycode & collaborated with him on a few music projects . Some of those works were released on South african deep house label , dj syndicate .
Lakuti inevitably became frustrated with the geographic isolation of the country and relocated to London in 1997 ; after a 3 year stint in Toronto Canada , where she studied film and worked on various film related projects .
She immediately looked into dedicating herself full time into music & looked @ ways of achieving that goal . A break through came when she met The legendary Earl Gateshead , The powerhouse behind the Trojan Soundsytem , who took her into his wing . They promoted a monthly Friday for about 1 year at the hugely influential underground hub , Plastic People .
Lakuti alongside alan “Portable” Abrahams also established their successful underground parties , in London ; over 8 years ago & the events have seen performances from artists such as Juan Atkins , Move D , Rik Wade , Dj Jus Ed , Prosumer , Lawrence/Sten , Efdemin , Carsten Jost , Pantha Du Prince , Shed , Daniel Bell e.t.c.
They established the Süd Electronic imprint in October 2002 & lakuti established Uzuri Recordings Nov 2007 to rave reviews & has since established The Uzuri Artist Bookings & Management agency .
Lakuti has played at clubs such as Fabric , The End , Plastic People , Corsica Studios , Herbal , Elektrowerks , Music Box e.t.c and various underground parties in and around London and various parts of the UK.
She has also collaborated with various artists on vocal duties . One such collaboration was a vocal track produced by Alan Abrahams under his Bodycode guise , titled , ” Body to Body ” which was released on Germany’s Yore Recordings . Another vocal contribution will appear on Bodycode’s second album for Spectral , scheduled for release later in 2009 . A track titled ” What Did You Say” ; which will also be released as a single on Spectral in March 2009 , with a remix by Babyford .
2009 will also see Lakuti’s debut ep on Süd Electronic .