Batuk, a collective comprising South African electronic music producers Aero Manyelo and Spoek Mathambo, vocalist Manteiga, and poet Carla Fonseca, merges house music with expressive practices from throughout the continent and African diaspora.
As solo artists, both Mathambo and Manyelo have helped boost the visibility of South Africa's electronic music scene with their discursive takes on 'township tech.' This new initiative, according to Mathambo, aims to "challenge xenophobic sentiments in South Africa by bridging different African countries based on shared and exchanged rhythm culture and language," and to "interrogate/criticize and expand on ideas of futurism in African music." The project debuted in 2016 with the Daniel EP and a string of international tour dates. Batuk's debut album, which will arrive midway through this year, features collaborations with multidisciplinary artists from South Africa, Mozambique and Uganda such as Grupo Zore and Grupo Makarita, Giovanni Kiyingi, Annet Nandujja, and Nilotica.