Gospel truth about house music!

THE Soweto Gospel Choir is about to school the world on the origins of house music.

The three-time Grammy-winning group, formed in 2002, has worked with Australian DJ and producer DJ Groove Terminator on a new album titled The History of House Music, which will reimagine classic house tracks.

Music director Shimmy Jiyane spoke to Daily Sun about working with the DJ and releasing music ahead of the project.

"We met DJ Groove Terminator 11 years ago during our tour of Australia. Groove wanted to do a collaboration with the choir. So, we invited him to watch us perform at the Sydney Opera House and he was amazed by what he saw and heard. After the show, we sat down and started talking. From there, The History of House Music was born,” Shimmy said.

Already, they've released two songs titled Good Life and Everybody’s Free.

ALSO READ : Jelly Babie's heartfelt apology to cashier

“Groove visited Mzansi for two weeks, and we worked on the songs at the Soweto Theatre. We went to the archives of house music. When we recorded the song, we had to do it the Soweto Gospel Choir way. We had to change some of the lyrics and create something unique, something people, especially in South Africa, would listen to and enjoy.

“We had to re-energise the songs people had listened to for a long time, so they needed to be fresh,” he said.

Shimmy said the choir has mastered changing from gospel to other genres.

“People will be blown away. We were introduced to house music when we did a track with Ralf Gum titled Ramasedi three years ago. Through that song, we introduced ourselves as this versatile group that can do anything. This took us out of our comfort zone.

“Working with artists from other genres has been a blessing. Hopping onto different genres has become easy. We can hop onto anything [genre] now and make it happen. We’ve done a lot of collaborations with gospel artists. We’ve done an amazing job to make sure we sound amazing in everything we do,” Shimmy said.

The History of House Music will be released between June and July.

“We’re looking at collaborating with other people and making something beautiful for the country and the world. We’d also like to feature big names,” he said.