From Interning To Being International – The Journey Of Uncle Waffles. Over the last couple of years, South African DJ-producer Uncle Waffles (born Lungelihle Zwane) has rapidly risen to her rightful title as the “princess of amapiano.” From mastering the South African club circuit to embarking on international tours.
Not only has she captured everyone’s attention with her amazing DJing skills, but she also knows how to keep the crowd entertained with her next-level dance moves.And just like that, Uncle Waffles has become the hottest thing on the internet, catapulting her into viral fame.
While interning at a local Eswatini TV station in 2020, Lungelihle Zwane stumbled upon 15-year-old DJ decks, which a DJ who often visited the office then taught her to use. Having grown up on South African house and kwaito acts like Black Coffee, Lebo Mathosa and DJ Kent, Zwane studied the rising amapiano movement — a South African subgenre of house and piano-led jazz — that was hitting clubs right before lockdown.
When I was interning, they used to have decks on site because it was a show where we would have DJ’s on, and we would have performers that needed a DJ to help. One day there was a DJ who said, “If you want to learn, I have some time. So on days where you can, we can just come and practice.” It went from eight hours a day, every day, for like almost nine months to one day, I was like, OK, I really love this. I don’t know if I can put myself out there like this, but let’s try.
