DJ Edu is a Kenyan-born, London-based DJ who presents 1Xtra's Destination Africa show, bringing the sound of the African underground to the speakers of the UK and the world.
Edu is known for playing a wide variety of African genres, from Genge, soul and urban through to Coupe De Cale, Zouk, Lingala, Soukous, Nigerian hits, Egyptian hits and Afro beats.
In 2008 he presented a series of shows from Ghana as part of 1Xtra's coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament and is one of the biggest club DJs in Africa.
Often we get asked who we think the best African/Kenyan DJ in the US/UK is. While this is a flattering position and opinion to be requested of us, its not as simple to come up with one individual who is talented, versatile, skilled and well known. There are so many things that go into defining a great DJ vs just a good or a talented DJ.
2008 has been a phenomenal year for many individuals in the US, many people put the title DJ in front of their names and conveniently called themselves DJs. Some individuals teamed up and formed DJ units which in our opinion is a lost cause in this market place, and some individuals chose to travel from Kenya to promote their skills and technique in the US.
Either way you look at it from our perspective consistency is the key - and for several years one person seems to stand out as the undoubted winner and DJ of the year. Though we do not showcase a lot of his work here (mainly because he is already well acknowledged and placed in the UK) we listen to his work every week online and constantly appreciate the amount of work put in to each and every mix.
DJ Edu, a homeboyz veteran has been on the music scene for quite a long time, but there is something about Edu that many Kenyan DJs dont seem to get. Edu has figured out a way to corner and master the African market as a whole. Edu doesn’t only Genge, soul and urban… Edu plays Coupe De Cale, Zouk, Lingala, Soukous, Nigerian hits, Egyptian hits, tonnes of Afro beats.
Edu has essentially changed how a lot of people consume African Music in the US and UK. BBC 1xtra is only available online and through DAB in the UK, but you can imagine the number of simultaneous sessions per week trying to get a listen off his latest work.It doesn’t mean that there aren’t any other DJs in the US who advocate and put African music out there, it just means this is one individual that we feel in our opinion has the winning formula year after year.
This is one person who in my humble opinion listens to every song he puts on his mixes and then figures out how to create relationships between these songs and other western songs. We have attached one of his latest shows to close the year 18th Dec 2008 - please pay close attention to the mashups and blends especially the DNA mixes and the Kwaku Mixes… DJ Edu takes the 2008 award for African DJ of the year as far as GetMziki is concerned.
