Lerato Khathi aka Lakuti grew up in Soweto, South Africa. She took a deep interest in music from a very young age, inspired by her mother’s impressive collection of Soul & Funk. Her grandfather also played a significant part in further nurturing her musical interest by schooling her in the art of Jazz. She inherited his jazz collection when he passed away and to this date has held onto every piece of vinyl from this collection. The biggest influence & inspiration was to come however with the first batch of Chicago house records .

 

Her first adventure onto a musical path came when she convinced an empty 100 capacity theatre in a then arty Yeoville – a suburb in Johannesburg, to let her use the space as a small club in the early 90′s, whilst embarking on a Law Degree. Planet Hendon was born which saw some of the best local talent play.

 

Around the same period, she met Alan Abrahams aka Portable/Bodycode and collaborated with him on a few music projects. Some of those works were released on South African deep house label, Dj Syndicate.
Lakuti relocated to London in 1997 ; after a 3 year stint in Toronto, Canada, where she studied film and worked on various film related projects. She immediately looked into dedicating herself full time into music and looked at ways of achieving that goal. A break through came when she met the legendary Earl Gateshead, the powerhouse behind the Trojan Soundsystem, who took her under his wing. They promoted a monthly Friday for about 1 year at the hugely influential underground hub, Plastic People in London.

 

Lakuti also established and ran successful underground parties in London under the Süd banner. The events ran for 11 years until November 2011 and saw performances from artists such as Juan Atkins, Move D, Rick Wade, Dj Jus Ed, Boo Williams, Tama Sumo, Prosumer, Lawrence, Efdemin, Carsten Jost, Pantha Du Prince, Shed, Daniel Bell, e.t.c. They established the Süd Electronic imprint in October 2002 and Lakuti established Uzuri Recordings Nov 2007 to rave reviews and has since established The Uzuri Artist Bookings & Management agency.

Lakuti has played at clubs and events such as Fabric, The End, Plastic People, Corsica Studios, Herbal, Elektrowerks, plays regularly at Panorama Bar in Berlin, Rex Club, Djoon, Concrete + more in Paris, Silenco, Motel Campo in Geneva , Dude Club in Milan, Prince Charles & About Blank also in Berlin, Bussey Building in London, Dalston Superstore also in London, Printworks, Chapter 10 @ Bloc, The Cause, Disco Volante, Dude Club, Basic Club and many more clubs in Italy, Bern Salonger in Stockholm, Cardboard Club in Gothenburg, Inkonst in Malmo, as well as in Copenhagen, Skopje, Nantes, Lyon and pretty much most cities in europe with an electronic music scene. She has also toured Brazil, Australia and has also toured the USA several times and recently played in Canada and also toured Japan for the first time in 2019.

 

Lakuti has played at various art events as well, including @ The opening party @ The South African Pavillion at the Venice Biennale and @ The first Riga Biennale in 2018 at the Documenta alternative art week in Athens in 2017, has played at many festivals such as Glastonbury Festival , Dekmantel Festival + Suncebeat , Fat Fat Fat festival , Nuit Sonores , CTM Festival , Today’s Art , Dimensions Festival , Love International + many more. She currently holds a residency at the cult Freerotation festival.

 

She has also collaborated with various artists on vocal duties. One such collaboration was a vocal track produced by Alan Abrahams under his Bodycode guise, titled, ” Body to Body ” which was released on Germany’s Yore Recordings. Another vocal contribution appeared on Bodycode’s second album for Spectral, released in 2009. A track titled ” What Did You Say” , which was also released as a single on Spectral in March 2009, with a remix by Babyford.

 

Lakuti has also collaborated with Matias Aguayo on a track Called ‘Pata Pata ‘ released on Comeme. she has also collaborated with Tama Sumo & The Neighbourhood Character under the Tarantism name and remixed Swedish duo The Knife – a track called ‘Ready to Lose ‘ out on Rabid Records.

Lakuti has also programmed some events in various cities within Europe such as Lisbon , London and her co-programmed Friday nights at Panorama Bar with Tama Sumo have been received positively. 

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