DJ Lefatshe makes his mark

The word modesty does not seem to feature in Lefatshe ‘DJ Lefatshe’ Tsie’s vocabulary. He is not necessarily pompous or arrogant but he is quite confident and self-assured of his talents. The sought after DJ was never formally taught to spin the decks but he can create flames with his sets. “Several years ago when I was young I was at a party and DJ Rasp invited me to come over and play and that was it, that’s how it started,” a wistful Tsie recalls.

Although he still played, it has been only recently that his face and name has appeared at many events. He believes that this is largely because he prefers to play classics, mostly old school kwaito and afro pop. He however insists that he plays other genres as well. He believes so much in his talent that he doesn’t practise at all, he says. “My hands only touch the decks when my slot is on,” he beams with pride.

DJ Lefatshe has shared the stage with a lot of well-known people but he admits that he would like to work more with DJ Gouveia, LaTimmy and T.H.A.B.O. He would like to work with Afro pop group, Mafikizolo and South African kwaito legend, Spikiri.

He credits his wife and family for their support. “My wife in particular is my pillar of strength and the one person whom he spoke to before I went into being a DJ on a serious basis,” he says. He says that they sat down and talked everything through including the consequences that so obviously come with such a job like fans who sometimes misbehave.

Tsie admits to not making mixes and not having made collaborations with anyone due to his very busy schedule although he hopes that this might change somewhere in the future. He has no protégés yet despite the fact that some keen individuals have approached him to teach them how to spin the decks. He says that he will commit to mentoring at a later stage as he is currently busy and would not be able to dedicate much of his time to them.

Tsie reveals that he is not on any social media platform because he doesn’t have time to keep updating and checking what’s happening out there. This beckons the question how then do people who are interested in his services get in touch with him? “If they truly want to get in touch with me then they will find a way of getting my number and call me,” he says with a smile.