User:Djzakesmixmaster/Djzakesmixmaster

With enormous experience in the industry he has been a consistent workaholic, not even allowing himself to fail. He has been hard at work since 1999 perfecting his art for the last emotional yet rewarding years. Soweto festival (2007), Be-connected festival (2007), Street pop Sessions (2000-2007), ShizNiz (E-TV); Go urban (Dstv), Castle Loud (Sabc1), Jozi fm, Y-fm and the Hype magazine awards where the crowd has never been left dissatisfied but amazed. He won 2nd place of the vinyl experience DJ competition that was hosted on Y-fm by DJ Fresh and was also DJ of the month on the Y magazine (2001 August issue). This earned him a lot of respect on the streets and in the industry; Zakes was part of an elite group of Dj’s chosen to attend a workshop hosted by Frankie Knuckles one of the pioneers of house music held at the Kippies Jazz club next to Market Theatre. Early 2002 he managed to convince fresh to let him showcase his skills on his then drive time slot, who offered him a 30 minute slot where he played a sat of deep house tunes every Thursday. Later that year he was approached by The Camel Vinyl Experience to be one of the VIPs Dj’s that represented the brand as part of their marketing strategy. Dj Zakes is the founder of Splash jam a hip-hop show held at Orlando West in Soweto. He has shared the DJ boxes of the finest clubs with the countries finest Dj’s namely (Ready-d, Bionic, Blaze, Naked Dj, Dj Fresh, Dj Christos, Vinny Da Vinci, Kentphonik, Khabzela, Ganyani, Mbuso, Troye, Troydon, Sassy Sam, Iggy Smalls, Glen Lewis). During his career he has shared stages with the best that South Africa has to offer Skwatta Kamp, Ntsiki Mazwai, HHp, Morafe and even some international acts such as: Guru (USA), Jeff K (France), Danny Boy and Raw (NORWAY). Not only is he a performing artist but also has an entrepreneurial mind having been involved in the starting of an entertainment company called Excur, which is shortened from the word Excursions, which means a “trip for pleasure”. Bands and artists have also invited him to perform with them on stage hoping to enhance their art and performance; he has helped by adding scratches to their tracks and also structuring their performances. This has helped improve his skill, network with other artists and has taught him how to promote and market cd’s and artists. It is also his aim to have his art delivered with absolute quality and efficiency. In 2007 he managed to get an arts administration cause at the Cultural Help Desk where he was involved in an organization called the 20 artistic minds started by the learners. His duties were musical director for a stage play created as form of rehabilitation for juvenile kids awaiting trial at youth centers, before the play was showcased a workshop was organized by the learners to give the kids career guidelines based on what their preference and talents they possessed. His role was to facilitate a music workshop to showcase the different career options the music industry has to offer and how hip-hop to rehabilitate oneself. In 2008 he helped coordinate an exchange Program between Holland and South Africa that addressed the 8 millennium goals through music and dance his role was music and technical director. In 2009/10 he was responsible for co-coordinating Dj Vu's tour to South Africa where he organized a number of gigs for him to play. Dj Zakes also hosted and mixed the Gutter Butter (2007) mixtape where Qba invited him. When Damola heard the Gutter Butter Mixtape he invited him to also mix the Cocky Mixtape. In 2010 he mixed the Hype Magazine promotional Cd (Sept/Aug), Koncept Karnival, and was made the Toms ambassador for the M-Audio. --Djzakesmixmaster (talk) 03:12, 13 March 2011 (UTC)www.facebook.com/djzakesmixmaster --Djzakesmixmaster (talk) 03:12, 13 March 2011 (UTC)www.splashjamdj@gmail.com/www.excurdj@yahoo.com