Bacardi king DJ Spoko dies

“A King, our dear friend and loving brother DJ Spoko has left us to join the skies,” Batuk’s Facebook post reads. “We are beyond heartbroken. There are no words. Rest In Peace and Music ubhuti wami, until we meet again.”

Batuk co-founder DJ Aero said: “So sad to learn about departing of #Barcadi King Marvin aka DJ Spoko RIP. Rest in Power my brother."

DJ Aero, whose real name is Aero Manyelo, told Music In Africa that DJ Spoko had been ill for some time. Manyelo said he was still to receive the full details of his colleague’s death. 

In 2015, DJ Spoko fell ill with chronic TB while on tour in Glasgow where he was hospitalised at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for three weeks. According to online publication Betweeen 10 and 5, the Bacardi house DJ had to raise funds by releasing new music he had recorded during his stay at the hospital in order to return to South Africa.

DJ Spoko (real name Marvin Ramalepe) was a part of the music group Fantasma founded by Spoek Mathambo, who is the other co-founder of Batuk.

Ramalepe, who was born in the town of Tzaneen in 1984, took full advantage of his image as Spoko (ghost) by handing out death-themed cassette tapes such as Grave Yard Session and Tombs & Graves. He went on to release his first album War God under the label Lit City Trax in 2014.

In an interview with Music In Africa in 2015, DJ Spoko said his interest in music began while he was in Soweto. “People were telling me there were Shangaanis working on electronic stuff, so I went to check it out. I ended up spending three years of my life there, studying the style of music, sound engineering and production," he said.

DJ Spoko said he was quite revered by fellow artist who "were asking me how their music sounded, and since I thought their music was too slow I told them to speed it up so they could sing slower in half time".

“If you’re real with yourself, you mustn’t worry about the songs that get scrapped or the music you’ve lost along the creative process, just keep making music and build up a fan base,” he told aspiring DJs on Music In Africa in 2015.