Building up to the Cape Town Underground Music Festival which will take place next week in five different venues in Cape Town, we will be profiling some of the artists that are billed to perform at the event. 

One of such artists is Nkosinathi Mdingi aka Dan One — a dancehall artists from New Cross, Cape Town.

Dan One was born and bred in the Crossroads township of Cape Town. The 29-year-old dancehall/reggae artist says music has been part of his life since childhood. He started doing music in primary school.

His first experience with reggae music was through Channel O’s Wicked show in the 1990s. The show used to play a lot of Jamaican reggae artists and this was pure inspiration for Dan One.

He believes that going to the streets in the townships to market himself as an artist is what has built him as a brand. “Street cred has built confidence in me as an artist,” he says, “and as a result I am well-known around the Cape Town reggae music circle.” He boldly says only “haters” would not mention his name when talking about dancehall music in Cape Town.

Opening for big artists such as Bongo Riot, MXO, and Black Dilinger and performing alongside Cape Town spaza quartet Driemanskap are some of the moments Dan One treasures in his music career. He was also the opening act for Jamaican reggae artist Fanton Mojah when he was in Cape Town.

Dan One reckons that being part of the Cape Town Underground Music Festival will add a star to his music career and for many other artists as well. “An initiative like this one is a good platform for aspiring artists and the name itself reflects that,” he says.

He is also chuffed with the visiting mainstream artists like Jah Kongo that are on the line up. “The artist in the lineup are so relevant today, and they have been in the industry for a while,” says Dan One.

Dan One will be performing next Friday October 10 alongside the likes of Jah Kongo, Evergreen, Raas Kerry and many others.

 His music can be accessed through SoundCloud but he says that he prefers to get in touch with his fans and send them his music directly. 

You can get in touch with him on Facebook as: Khayalethu Mdingi.