Perpetual Motion

Dynamic Durban continues to evolve as a world-class port city.

- Richard Newton

We live in an age of acronyms, and on the face of it this is just another: GQOM. Except it isn’t an acronym; it’s a word. The first two letters are pronounced as a back-of-the-palate click; the awkward four-letter moniker represents the resurgence of South Africa’s second-largest city. Gqom is the new sound of Durban.

Originating in the city’s townships, gqom is a strain of electronic house music, composed and recorded on cheap equipment and played at high volume at nighttime venues. Simple chords and vocals are overlaid on complex rhythm tracks evoking the chants and foot stomps of Zulu warriors. A range of influences — ancient and modern, African and international — blends into something unique.

In that respect, the music is much like the city itself. Ever since British settlers founded it in 1835 (and named the city in honor of the governor of Cape Colony, Sir Benjamin d’Urban), this port city on South Africa’s Indian Ocean coast has been a melting pot.

The original inhabitants were the Zulus, who traditionally referred to Durban’s sheltered bay as eThekwini.

Since majority rule in 1994, that name has been adopted for the municipality, though the precise meaning tends to be glossed over. Referring to the bay’s shape, eThekwini means “bull’s testicles.”

As the British developed the settlement into a thriving port in the 19th century, they imported thousands of laborers from India. Their descendents now number more than 1 million, making Durban the largest Indian city outside India.

Although African, Indian and European influences entwined to make Durban what it is today, the city has not been untouched by South Africa’s troubled racial history. In the 1890's, Durban’s Indians protested against their lack of basic rights and were represented by a young lawyer, Mahatma Gandhi, who would subsequently lead India to independence.