THEMBA

Mpumalanga, then the radio studio

Themba Mbongeni Nkosi was born on 6 December 1983 in Emagogeni, Mpumalanga, and grew up across that province, Klerksdorp in the North West and Benoni on the East Rand. The first music he had access to was his father's record collection, which ran to Marvin Gaye and Hugh Masekela — a combination of American soul and South African jazz that still shows up in the chord voicings on his own records. He started DJing in his late teens and moved through club circuits before regional radio picked him up.

Under the name Euphonik he began as a remixer in 2003 and got his first real attention in 2004 with Kentphonik, a collaborative album with DJ Kent. Radio came the same year at YFM, and a record deal with Soul Candi followed in 2006. He then moved to the national station 5FM, where he presented shows including Ultimix Weekend Edition and My House. Alongside the broadcasting he built the For the Love of House compilation series out to six volumes, won a Metro FM award for Best Compilation Album in 2014, and ran a joint project, F.EU, with DJ Fresh. He also put money and time into structures rather than singles: property in Johannesburg, and DJ tuition through programmes including DJ-101 and Phuture DJs.

Dropping the alias

In 2017 he retired the Euphonik name and started releasing and performing simply as Themba, with a stated shift in method — house and techno welded together rather than house alone. The reset worked faster than most rebrands do. "Who Is Themba", released in 2018, spent 18 months in the Beatport Top 100, which for a track built on drums and a vocal loop rather than a drop is an unusual run. That year he also played Ultra Music Festival, and nominations at the Ibiza DJ Awards followed; he appeared at WOMADelaide in 2020.

The other lever was proximity. His club productions began turning up in Black Coffee's sets, and he played Hï Ibiza alongside him. Pete Tong picked him up next: Themba recorded a promo mix of contemporary Afro house ahead of his fabric debut at the All Gone Pete Tong showcase, and fabric's own write-up described the sound he had arrived with as warm and slow-burning, built around dancefloor-minded breakdowns. He runs his own label, Herd, which has carried singles including "The Wolf" and "iLEMBE" and a Herd Mix of Fela Kuti and Africa 70's "Zombie".

The 2021 case

The South African radio chapter closed badly. In January 2021 a woman posting on Twitter accused Nkosi and DJ Fresh of drugging and raping her at a party in 2011. Primedia Broadcasting terminated both DJs' contracts with its 947 station in February 2021. Later that month the National Prosecuting Authority confirmed a decision not to prosecute, on the basis that the available evidence was insufficient for a successful prosecution. A crimen injuria and defamation complaint the two DJs subsequently opened against the accuser was dismissed in September 2021. No charge against him was ever brought to trial.

Two albums making the same argument

The records that matter are the two long ones. Modern Africa, Pt. I – Ekhaya came out on Armada Music in October 2021, written between Ibiza and Johannesburg; ekhaya means home, and the album's material circles shelter and staying put — a strange and rather good subject for a producer who had just spent three years in airports.

Between the albums he took the commercial route seriously without abandoning the drums. "Disappear", made with Nico de Andrea and Tasan in 2022, has passed eight million streams. He has worked with David Guetta's JACK BACK alias on "Give Me Something To Hold", remixed Bob Sinclar's "World Hold On", and recorded with Vintage Culture. In 2023 he headlined more than 30 shows, including Untold, Neversea and Music On at Pacha Ibiza, and he has played Red Rocks in Denver, E1 in London and Kapital in Madrid.

Elements of Africa, released on Armada on 5 September 2025, is the more ambitious of the two albums and was recorded primarily in South Africa. It runs to nine tracks, each tied to one value he takes to be constitutive of African identity: the human spirit, humility and strength, love, teamwork, wisdom, hope and faith, creativity, God's presence, respect. "Africa is not just a place — it's a feeling, a rhythm, and above all, a way of being," he said of it. The collaborator list is long and mostly African or Afro-diasporic: Double Touch on the lead single "Akasha", &LEZ on "Spine", Citizen Deep and Jessica LM on "Diadora", Nicinha on "Cantando", Niraj Naik and Nicolle Rochelle on "Sorofe", his old partner DJ Kent on "Alegria", Khenya and ABEL on "Lucid Dreams", IDQ on "Kumbuka", and Benchek with Bukeka on "Vuthelani". Zulu and Xhosa vocals sit across it. Every track is an extended mix of six to eight minutes, which tells you where it was aimed.

Standing, autumn 2026

A year after the album, the diary rather than the discography is carrying him. His tour calendar lists 14 upcoming shows across 11 countries. September 2026 took in a festival appearance at Gateway Gardens in Frankfurt on the 12th, Ushuaïa Ibiza on the 20th and BamBoa Lagos on the 26th — Europe, the island and the continent inside a fortnight.

October is denser still: Fitz in Madrid on the 2nd, Motel Particulier in Marbella on the 3rd, then a Gulf run through Hazel in Manama on the 14th, La Plage in Jeddah on the 15th and the Bohemia Beach Club at Five Palm Jumeirah in Dubai on the 17th. Two nights at KOKO in Camden follow on 23 and 24 October, then IJland in Amsterdam on the 25th. November crosses the Atlantic — New City Gas in Montreal on 29 October, Gospël in New York on the 30th, H Live in Guadalajara on 6 November, Legends Arena in Punta Cana on the 7th — before Palais de Tokyo in Paris on 14 November and Baoli in Dubai on 11 December. Album material has continued to appear as singles through 2026, including "My Lexicon" with Kyozo, and he has kept playing benefit dates for Bridges For Music, the South African music-education charity.

What he actually does behind the decks

The craft is curatorial as much as technical. KOKO's own billing for him described the approach as cutting-edge and the selection as immaculately curated, and that is the honest read: he is a DJ who builds long, and whose own tracks are engineered to survive a slow room. The Herd catalogue and the Elements of Africa extended mixes share a shape — percussion first, a vocal fragment used as a rhythmic element rather than a hook, then a breakdown that holds far longer than a festival tent would normally tolerate before the drums return.

That is the tension worth watching. The bookings now span beach clubs in Dubai, a Mexican arena, a French museum and a Camden theatre, and those rooms want different things from him. The Black Coffee lineage gives him licence to play patiently; the Guetta and Sinclar credits give him the option not to.