Ralf GUM

Ralf GUM has come a long way from the small town of Würzburg, where the German DJ—born Ralf Benkert in 1971—held his Friday-night residency at the Airport club in the early ‘90s. Throughout that decade and the early 2000s, he paid homage to old-school house music in funk- and disco-fueled singles; then, in 2008, the same year he released his solo debut album, Uniting Music, GUM traveled to South Africa for the first time, an experience that made him rethink his whole approach to dance music. He moved there four years later, and since then has established himself as an ambassador between the European club scene and South Africa’s kwaito, Afrohouse, and amapiano movements. Frequently working alongside local talents like Monique Bingham and the Soweto Gospel Choir, GUM’s records bring together the best of North and South into heady, hypnotic, late-night house anthems with truly international appeal.