Strictly Soul’s Akio Kawahito Talks Taking African R&B Global

If you’re a lover of R&B, then you’ve likely heard of Strictly Soul.

Held regularly in Windhoek and other African cities, it is quickly becoming a staple for anyone looking to lose themselves in its melodic vibes.

The first Windhoek show had 150 people and has now grown into one of the most anticipated parties in town, attracting people from all walks of life.

The brain behind it all, Akio Kawahito, is a passionate advocate for elevating R&B and African music to global heights.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kawahito, also the headlining DJ, ahead of Saturday evening’s edition in Windhoek at The Village Garden, and he shared some of his insights with me.

Kawahito is from the United States, but with a Japanese father and Dutch mother he is very much a global citizen. When he was young, he was very keen on leaving Tennessee behind, and it was when he was 19 years old, studying in Belgium, that he discovered his love for the turntables.

“I’d be the guy at the party that would play three songs on a CD, take it out, put another CD in, push play… I didn’t really know that was actually DJing,” he explains.

When he moved to Japan, he made the fateful decision to take DJing seriously, so he got himself the equipment, eventually relocated to South Africa, and the rest is now history.

This history, of course, involves him growing a name for himself as a DJ across the continent, and then at some point seeing the possibilities of R&B, as someone who loved the genre growing up.

“I’ve always been good at bringing people together,” he says after his success as a warm-up DJ at the live music event Cool Out.

Here he noticed the way the crowd, especially women, reacted to the more sensual sets.

He says that since there had been a lull in artists releasing and people listening to R&B in the early 2010s and a resurgence of the genre around 2017, he wanted to be at the forefront of this new era.

When Kawahito and his team decided to expand into Namibia, they were initially worried about the small population. Now Strictly Soul attracts around 1 000 people, and the DJ tells us he can’t get enough.

“It’s become one of my favourite shows because I feel like the crowd we get is one that doesn’t just go out for everything … they’re more particular. They want to get dressed up for it,” he says.

This Saturday, the same cool energy can be expected.

Paul Da Prince, Musketeer and South African DJ FortNoks will be on the decks, with Kawahito himself as the headliner and some special guest hosts leading the proceedings.

Kawahito believes he is leading an R&B revolution, not just in Windhoek, but across the continent.

He tells us it is not as easy as it looks. One needs to have the tenacity to make it far, and like many of us out in the world, he is, at times, plagued by imposter syndrome. He tells us how he overcomes that.

“There has to be a point where you say it’s now or never and you can’t half step in … If you don’t put 1 000% in, there’s going to be a million things that are easily going to just chop away at your confidence,” he says, adding that being part of a community and having people cheer you on is also important.

It also helps that his team is six people strong and capable.

For the future, Kawahito hopes to become the champion for R&B in Africa.

“We want to elevate African R&B to the global level, like through partnerships with Spotify and any other platforms,” he says, listing Waters as an artist he appreciates.

Catch Strictly Soul on Saturday from 19h00.

Pre-sold tickets range from N$100 to N$300.

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