#MusicExchange: Charles Webster releases 10-track album featuring Sipho 'Hotstix' Mabuse
19 Jan 2021
Charles Webster is a British electronic music producer and DJ who specialises in producing house music, amongst several other genres, including downtempo and jazz. Webster now lives in Cape Town.
He has recorded under his own name, as well as under a series of aliases, including Presence, Furry Phreaks and Love From San Francisco.
Webster has just released a 10-track album entitled Decision Time, under his own name, and the album features wonderful vocal collaborations with the likes of Shara Nelson, Ingrid Chavez, ThandiDraai and Sipho Mabuse who Webster met at Music Exchange in 2013. He is also responsible for some remixes of “Jive Soweto” for Mabuse, all of which are available on streaming platforms.
The track Mabuse features on is entitled “I Wonder Why” and speaks to the current South African reality.
I caught up with this uber-talented and humble superstar last week.
The new decade means:
Total world collapse by the look of it, so far.
Fame is about:
The trials and tribulations of a group of young New York-based aspiring performing artists.
© Tamara MacLachlan
Retirement will happen when:
I die.
What does music mean to you?
Beauty, imagination, sharing emotions.
I would love to co-write with:
Rickie Lee Jones.
What is the most enjoyable aspect of your work?
Making people happy.
Your musical heroes:
Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Marvin Gaye, Steely Dan, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Ravel, Joni Mitchell.
My style icon is:
James Rockford.
What is your most treasured possession?
My health.
It’s your round, what are you drinking?
Something cheap.
© Tamara MacLachlan
Dream gig to do:
Any gig would be a dream right now!
Nicknames:
Count Basie.
Pick five words to describe yourself:
Tall, bespectacled, loyal, open-minded, loving.
Five favourite SA albums of all time?
Sipho ’Hotstix’ Mabuse – Greatest Hits
Spaza – UPRIZE! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Letta Mbulu – In The Music The Village Never Ends
Hugh Masekela – Home Is Where the Music Is
Dumama + Kechou – Buffering Juju
What is your favourite word:
Mellifluous
Favourite fashion garment:
Baseball caps.
© Tamara MacLachlan
Your greatest achievement:
Completing this questionnaire ;-)
What do you complain about most often?
Clichés.
What is your fear?
Closed-minded people.
The best life lesson you have been taught:
Never trust a Tory (a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism) and a major record label.
Where would you like to be right now?
In a really nice recording studio.
Wishes and dreams:
A better, fairer planet for all.
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