Lerato Khathi (Lakuti) and Alan Abrahams (Portable) grew up at opposite parts, of south africa. Communities that had a lot in common. Poverty and deprivation, and a strong love of music, but because of the warped racial laws of the time. It meant these communities were sometimes in conflict even though they were both under the big thumb of the apartheid regime. Alan and Lerato crossed paths in a suburb of Johannesburg called Yeoville in 1991.

Photo by Dot

Yeoville became a mecca for all sorts of creative beings, white & black, who chose to ignore the laws of the times, by living together and creating art, music, film, great parties, real political debate and so forth. Both discovered that they shared a common passion for the chicago sounds of, Armando, Phuture, Sleazy D; e.t.c. The biggest inspiration for both came from Mr Fingers. Mike Ink and Studio 1 was another big discovery for the duo, leading to Maurizio and many others. The duo spent a lot of time in the studio, experimenting with sound & later cut a music video for one of their projects. They then took over an old, small theatre and turned it into a tiny club, called Planet Hendon. Planet Hendon, went on to reach somewhat of a cult underground status, with a very experimental, d.i.y ethos. It ran for 2 years, before the building was sold off.

Alan, went on to release a highly influential album, titled "Dance For Freedom", to coincide with the first democratic elections in South Africa; in 1994. This was to be the freshest album & reached the top ten on the official radio charts, In South Africa. Lerato went on to study film and directed a few projects which were aired by the South African Broadcasting Cooperation. She then went to work on a film project and continued to study film In Toronto, Canada. She then got into the whole warehouse scene there.

Both moved to London in 1997, with a mission to set up a label and to spread their musical ideas .

They started djaying at various bars and clubs in London; meeting a lot of interesting characters along the way. They then went on to establish their alternative events in 2000, which saw live perfomances from a lot of the contemporary minimal artists such as Sutekh, Safety Scissors, Farben, Andy Vaz e.t.c. and introduced a lot of these artists to a london audience.

Alan went on to release material on Sutekh's Context imprint & the rest is history...

Süd came to life as a label, in october 2002 .
The label was born out of a long term ambition to release quality & unique electronic music. With Minimalism used as a reference point, rather than a restrictive box of rules and regulations. A label that would showcase international artists, who share the same creative vision or who would further challenge us to new paths and discoveries. Süd has since released material by Farben, Sutekh, Tomas Jirku, Portable, Andy Vaz, Jay Haze, Milos, Lump, Peter Spiess, Am/Pm & Akiko Kiyama. An international roster of artists who have redefined minimalism, techno and electronica as a whole.

Our material has been played by djs such as Ricardo Villalobos, Jeff Milligan, Mike Shannon, Bern, Rolando, Richie Hawtin, Falko Brockspier, Daniel Meteo, Thomas Fehlmann ... the list goes on.
Lerato

» read more at sudelectronic.com

Download the accompanying Netrelease

MNLV02 - Various Süd Electronic
exclusive tracks by
Portable, Lump, Milos & AM/PM