Based : Johannesburg
Elo, who was born in Soweto, has one of the most distinctive sounds that is quite clearly a mixture of the music she grew up listening to, including Shangaan electro, disco, funk and jazz. The lyrics are always deeply personal and they reflect her own adventurous spirit and eclectic approach to her craft.
The big Afro is reminiscent of Chaka Khan, and the futuristic videos mark her as one who knows that her generation enters the music via the visual. Pink is her signature color , and her hair is mostly kept in a florescent pink.
At a recent performance at the Sci-Bono in Newtown she was joined on stage by an 8-piece. The choice of the venue was an inspired one, given the way in which Elo brings to her music a deliberately electronic approach. To add to the
magic of a winter evening, the entire stage was painted a pastel pink. Her band members walked onto the stage barefoot, wearing flowing robes and striking Basotho hats.
The song Make You Stay which was delivered in a future-meets-past mix of techno that harkens back to the golden age of disco while referencing the sounds of acid jazz. The theme of the evening at Sci-Bono was Surreal So Real, an apt one given that Elo insists on merging both fantasy and reality in her music-making.