Background

Fugama Unamathe was Qness' first single to be released commercially. It is also one of his most successful singles. In 2008 after dropping out of law school Qness was forced to move back to his parents' home South of Johannesburg where he spent countless hours on the computer making music. It was during this time that he created the music for the song that would later be named "Fugama Unamathe". After completing the song he needed vocals and after struggling to get the vocalists he wanted for a feature he advertised on Facebook that he was searching for a vocalist.

The advert was then seen by UK-based Mthulisi Patrick, who was managing UK-based upcoming singer Oluhle at the time, who then responded to the ad requesting Qness to send the music. Qness sent him the music and months later the song "Fugama Unamathe" was born. Thereafter Qness secured a job in the marketing department of Sheer Music where he played the song to DJ QT, who then played it to DJ Mbuso. Mbuso, who was working on his "Phezulu Selections Vol 2 Archived 27 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine" album at the time, went crazy upon hearing the song and immediately called Qness and requested to license the song for his album.  

Qness agreed and Fugama went on to become one of the biggest songs of 2009 in South Africa and immediately launched Qness's career as a  DJ & Musical Producer of repute.

Writing & Composition

The music to the song was created by DJ Qness and the lyrics written by Oluhle, of which she adapted from a traditional ethnic African song which was mostly sung in funerals to try and bring comfort and healing to bereaved mourners.

Reception

The song was met with very positive reactions and made it to the top charts of many of the country's prominent radio stations including YFM, Metro FM and Ukhozi.

Background

In 2008 while working as a Copyright Assistant at Sheer Publishing Qness met Maleh who was part of Bloemfontein-based group Kaya at the time. Upon hearing that she was a vocalist, Qness requested to hear her material. The first time he heard her voice was on the song "Bayethe" which she did with Kaya. Qness lamented that he had "never heard such an angelic voice" in his life before. He requested to go into the studio with her and the result was the song "Uzongilinda".

Writing & Composition

The music was composed by Qness and the lyrics to the song were written by Qness alongside his childhood friend Vincent in Cresta, Johannesburg North, at Qness's then one bedroom apartment. They recorded it at his studio in the Vaal. It was released as a single in 2010 after "Fugama Unamathe" and some people have argued that it is one of the best love songs ever created in the South African house music fraternity.

Reception

Immediately after release it went on to chart nationwide causing waves on stations such as Ukhozi FM, YFM, & Metro FM, to name just a few. Maleh still credits Qness as having played a pivotal role in helping shape her career to what it is today. The single was later remixed by Israel's UPZ aka Avi Elman, along with Abicah Soul, Rancido from Netherlands, Euan Mitchell from the UK, and upcoming South African producers Sbonza, Mindlo & house music duo Infinite Boys.

Background

In 2010 after the successes of "Fugama Unamathe" and "Uzongilinda" with Maleh, Qness decided to record another single with the latter as his strategy of moving forward from where he had previously left off. He reached out to Maleh and they got back into the studio to record the multi-chart topping hit single "Time".

Writing & Composition

Both the lyrics and music for the single were written by Qness. He sent Maleh a reference of the song which he had initially recorded with another vocalist and Maleh sessioned in studio and re-did the whole song. The results were beyond impressive and Maleh took the song to a whole new level.

Reception

In less than a week of being sampled to radio, the song was put onto high rotation on radio stations like Yfm, Metro FM, Lesedi FM, Ikwekwezi, Motsweding, Munghana Lonene and Ukhozi, etc. Qness shot a video for the song with Maleh and it featured a clip of their first collaboration "Uzongilinda" at the start of the video before transcending into "Time".

Reception

The song did exceptionally well on the market and Qness received a nod from the "deep" heads who now believed in his ability to switch from "commercial" to "deep" house and still deliver exceptionally well.

Imiyalo

Single by DJ Qness taken from his On Cue Vol. 2 album. It was also the first radio single which wasn't included on "On Cue Reloaded" to be sampled from the full Vol. 2 album.

Released: 2012

Recorded: 2011

Genre: Afro Tribal House

Length: 07.42

Label: Universal Music/Qness Production/Cue Ness Communications

Composers: Qhubani Ndlovu

Writers: Nomalungelo Dladla, Muzi Ngwenya            

Producer(s): Qhubani Ndlovu

Background

Imiyalo was originally an afro jazz song by prominent Swaziland songstress Nomalungelo Dladla, who was signed to Claiming Ground Records. Qness first heard the song from Mthulisi Patrick, incidentally the same guy who introduced him to Oluhle back in 2008. Immediately Qness fell in love with the song and he wanted to remix it. After several attempts, Claiming Ground Records CEO Muzi Ngwenya granted Qness the permission to remix the song.

Reception

It was also very well received and they performed in on SABC 1 Live Amp, Yo TV, Shiz Niz, as well as Club 808. Radio-wise it charted exceptionally well and went on to become the official lead single of the "On Cue Vol. 2" album.

Background

"I Do" was originally a song by Nigerian singer Simi Ogunleye. Qness first heard the vocals of the song online and immediately wanted to remix it.

Reception

The general reception to the song was mixed to fair. This became the last single that he released from the album.

Background

On 30 July 2015 DJ Qness posted what seemed to be an artwork for a new single with the vague caption "#FYI #6". The artwork was labelled "My World" by DJ Qness & Kyle Deutsche.

A week later on the 5th of August 2015 Qness dropped the single online along with a press release and immediately it went viral on social media.

Critical reception

The Global Spectator, a site that reports on entertainment news described the song as "the song for summer" while IDM Mag described it as "having all the makings of a radio and charts friendly, catchy pop tune."

And surely enough prominent South African Broadcasting Corporation pop station 5FM was the first one to break the song on radio play listing it within days of release. While many of his fans & critics were excited of his new release, a sizable few criticized him for changing his style and for supposedly making a switch from deep & commercial house, to the new trendy EDM & pop influences on this new release. However Qness responded by saying he was "growing as a brand" and "expanding" reach in terms of his sound.