Photo: Supplied
During 2022, Auckland musician SR Mpofu released a new beat tape each month, for the entire year.
It suggests an excellent work ethic, but the 23-year-old Zimbabwean New Zealander says “it actually just stemmed from being annoyed at having so many beats that weren’t being used.
“I was like, you know what, I’m just going to release these. They’re going to live, no matter what. I wanted to challenge myself, and actually be an artist. Be consistent.”
The music channelled seventies soul; jazz; funk; and psychedelia, slightly woozy, and always human. It felt like someone chasing the perfect groove.
Simphiwe Mpofu grew up in Taupō, then moved to Auckland aged 19, to study production at MAINZ. He’d been making beats since he was “nine or 10”, initially using free online programmes.
A few years later, he and his friends were listening to artists like Home Brew, realising “these people are from New Zealand, making really great quality music. It made it seem achievable”.
He made music in his room, “cycling through multiple family laptops”. Aged 11 he got FL, saying “I didn’t understand it, but I knew it was for recording, so I’d sit in the lounge, and beatbox into it, then hum a melody.
“I couldn't even save it or anything, because it was a trial version. I’d just leave it open for as long as I could.
“After that my brother got me a Maschine MK1. He could see making beats was all I was doing.
“I started sampling, and trying to make the hardest beats possible. I was watching every single Rhythm Roulette ten times over.
“I’d have YouTube open in one window, and FL or Ableton open in the other, and go bar for bar trying to copy every single thing.”
Photo: Supplied
He has vivid memories of Zimbabwe, where he left aged seven. His parents were prompted by the worsening economy to emigrate to NZ.
“It was getting much harder, financially. But my parents did a good job of hiding that from me.
“No matter what was in the kitchen, I was eating every day. Power’s out? We have a fireplace, we can cook something on there.
“I was a kid, so it was fun to me, walking around with candles.”
Despite knowing a few Zimbabwean families in Taupō, connecting with other countrymen in Aotearoa isn’t common.
“My family is Ndebele. Most Zimbabweans you meet in New Zealand, or in the world, will be Shona. We’re a much smaller tribe.”
Mpofu never learned how to speak Shona, explaining this away due to “some deep tribal beef from back in the day”.
As far as people his age, he’s met one other Ndebele person in NZ, saying “I geeked out. We started speaking. I was like, this is crazy.
“He was thinking the same thing. He was like, I’ve never! And that happened not that long ago.”
SR Mpofu & Benjamin Photo: Bandcamp
Mpofu’s latest project is a collaboration with the rapper Benjamin, called The Curious Case of Bill and Slim. The pair bonded at MAINZ, after playing each other their music.
He says “the friends I made there, what they were listening to, what they were making, I was like, these are my people.
“It was the perfect thing, coming from Taupō. I wanted to meet a group of people that were similar to me, in their interests, or the type of music they wanted to make.
He and Benjamin have been working together since 2019, “spending a lot of time sharpening each other, until we were at a point where we’re really happy putting them out into the world, and being like yo, this is us.”
