Emilie Shimbali
Since its release about four months ago, ‘Danko’ by the Musketeers recently reached over two million views on YouTube.
This is quite a milestone for the vibrant and dynamic musicians from the streets of Walvis Bay and Arandis: Georgio van Wyk (stage name DJ Jojo), Tangi Tuyoleni Nghipetekwa (DJ Skull), and Tokyo Berrid Manjara (DJ Zonesh).
DJ Skull told VIBEZ! the song was crafted in appreciation of their fans and the people who made it possible for them to do music.
“It’s the same as the Afrikaans’ word ‘dankie’, which symbolises acceptance and appreciation, and basically means thank you,” he explained.
The song features Azmo, real name Tyrese van Wyk, who is also from Walvis Bay, on the Zulu vocals.
‘Danko’ went viral in multiple countries, including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, and stands at over 984 550 streams on Spotify.
About five weeks ago, ‘Danko’ was the only Namibian song that made it to the list of the top 500 songs on All Radio South Africa.
Soon afterwards, the group announced that they have signed with Africori, a platform that carries independent African artists and labels from across the continent and in the diaspora.
In mid-November last year, while the song was busy making waves, South African artist Focalistic vibed on the song on his Instagram page.
They have since decided to collaborate, and the ‘Danko’ remix will drop soon.
The trio has been together since February 2020. DJ Skull and DJ Jojo had previously worked together, and they met DJ Zonesh at an event. They played around with some sounds and the rest, as they say, is history.
“We thought we could work together by combining our sounds and create something new and wholesome, which is way different from what the industry currently offers,” added DJ Skull.
“We make music to escape reality, to think and simply live in the moment.
We have a philosophy that music is the only thing that speaks to you when everything else fails, and we make music to share how we feel with everyone else out there, especially our fans.”
The triad promised to take the music industry by storm, and have released three albums thus far.
“We thought of dropping an album this year to be the cherry on the cake,” DJ Skull announced.
He advised fellow musicians to research the music industry, study their target audience, review award-winning tracks, and choose the team to work with right, and to “keep pushing”.
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