The six-year-old South African DJ star who hit the right beats in 2019

Record ID: 1450887

  • Title: The six-year-old South African DJ star who hit the right beats in 2019
  • Date: 31st December 2019
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DJ ARCH, SAYING: "My favourite song is House music and... because I love making people dance and scream." (SOUNDBITE) (English) DJ ARCH'S FATHER, GLEN HLONGWANE, SAYING: "As he continued growing up I always had a pair of decks at home and he'd like come join me and I'd be doing all these crazy things - watch me, what I do and he'd copy. Until like one of these videos I took from home went viral and people just like went crazy about this kid saying like, 'hey this is talent, you need to do something about it' and that's when SA's Got Talent approached us saying that they would love to have him on the show. We went on the show and ended up winning the showing and yeah since then he went bigger! I mean he's like a little superstar now, right AJ?"
  • Embargoed: 14th January 2020 11:28
  • Keywords: DJ Arch Junior Guinness World Record for The Youngest Club DJ South Africa's Got Talent
  • Location: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
  • City: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Music
  • Reuters ID: LVA005BCB34GN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Saturday afternoon in Johannesburg, South Africa and the country's youngest DJ, is getting ready to rock a crowd at an outdoor concert.
    Oratilwe Hlongwane, or DJ Arch Jnr. likes to mix house party music for fans and often gets to play for a packed audience of mainly children.
    The six-year-old has been mixing music since he was toddler and is often hired to play at different events including festivals, private events and corporate gigs.
    "He's the best ever!" said Leseja Maraba a fan at the event.
    "He's mixing techniques are just off! You'd swear you're dancing to an old DJ who's been in the industry for ages," said Keitumetsi Moema.
    "The way he was playing, he was perfect. He played for the people, people were enjoying. You can even see after he finished people were following him to the car, especially the children," added Phillip Mpharo, another guest at the concert.
    DJ Arch's journey into the world of music started when he was just eight-months-old.
    His father, Glen Hlongwane a gymnastics teacher who also loves mixing music bought him an iPad for educative games but noticed his son was more interested in a DJ app instead.
    It wasn't long before the deejay transitioned to mixing behind the decks. DJ Arch later won the South Africa's Got Talent competition in 2015 when only 3-years-old, which propelled him to fame.
    "My favourite song is House music and... because I love making people dance and scream," said DJ Arch.
    "As he continued growing up I always had a pair of decks at home and he'd like come join me and I'd be doing all these crazy things - watch me, what I do and he'd copy. Until like one of these videos I took from home went viral and people just like went crazy about this kid saying like, 'hey listen, this is talent, you need to do something about it' and that's when SA's Got Talent approached us saying that they would love to have him on the show. We went on the show and ended up winning the showing and yeah since then he went bigger! I mean he's like a little superstar now - right AJ?" said Glen.
    Dj Arch received a standing ovation when he took part in the America's Got Talent: The Champions, show which premiered in January this year.
    The TV series featured 50 winners from past editions of the Got Talent franchise around the world, who competed for the top prize.
    The grade two student, who's said to be the youngest DJ in the world, didn't make it to the next round of the competition, but his young career has already seen him mix in radio shows, play at events and win various awards including the Guinness World record for the youngest club DJ.
    "The first thing was just like wow! You know from South Africa's Got Talent to America's Got Talent: The Champions, you understand it was the first ever Champions show and he was one of the kids to be selected from Africa. He was actually the only one from Africa, which was like huge!" said Glen.
    Mixing music has also taken DJ Arch to several countries including Botswana, Spain and Saudi Arabia among others and secure various sponsorship deals. He is also the youngest brand ambassador for the djay app Algoriddim, used on iPhone and iPad.
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