Who are FAKA South African duo? Desire Marea and Fela Gucci, two friends who formed FAKA, a project that combines music, video and performance clothing, with the EPs Bottoms Revenge (2016) and Amaqhawe (2017).
Seeing the name on a line-up, it is easy to assume a solo artist, a band or a record label. None of those fits neatly. This page stays at duo level: who the two members are, what they have released and how they describe their aims. Wider context sits in our guide to south african music artists.
Common misreadings of FAKA
FAKA is two people working across sound, image and dress, and its releases have appeared through an outside label. The table below sets the three most common wrong assumptions against what the published evidence supports.
| Common assumption | What the evidence supports | Planning use |
|---|---|---|
| FAKA is a single artist | The project was formed by friends Desire Marea and Fela Gucci | Credit both names when you cite the act or search for it |
| FAKA only makes music | Described as an art and music collective; the music videos and the clothes worn during performances are “just as important” as the sounds | Treat videos and styling as part of the work, not as promotion for it |
| FAKA is a record label | The 2016 and 2017 EPs were released under the NON Worldwide label | Search release listings under the label name as well as the duo name |
The membership comes from the Mail & Guardian’s 2017 profile, while the collective description, the role of videos and clothing, and the label come from a Bruzz interview published on 28 November 2019.
Three practical points follow from the table.
- “Collective” describes the practice, not a long roster. The publications that call FAKA an art and music collective also name only two people behind it, so write about the duo when you mean the named members.
- Visuals are part of the record. Bruzz stresses that videos and performance clothing carry as much weight as the recordings. A discography that lists only audio releases leaves out part of the work.
- The label is a separate entity. NON Worldwide is the label attached to the 2016 and 2017 releases. It is not a synonym for FAKA, and the two names should not be swapped.
The two members
FAKA has two named members, Desire Marea and Fela Gucci, described by the Mail & Guardian as friends who formed the project. Their friendship matters for how the work is described: it began as a shared project rather than a band assembled around a sound.
Desire Marea
Marea is the voice quoted most often in the 2019 Bruzz interview, including the statement of purpose covered further down. Marea also introduced Gucci to experimental electronic gqom, which gives the music one of its starting points. Marea’s individual career is a separate subject. For that account, see who is Desire Marea.
Fela Gucci
Gucci is the other half of the duo. In the Bruzz interview he says that Desire had introduced him to the experimental electronic gqom music in 2012, which dates one of the sonic influences on the project. That date is a personal recollection of how he came to the genre. It is not a formation date for FAKA, so it should not be quoted as one.
The earliest dated work attributed to the pair is the 2015 video piece described below, which makes 2015 the safest starting point for any timeline. With the members established, the releases can be set out in order.
Dated timeline of key releases
The dated record runs from a 2015 video piece to two EPs and then to an album still in progress in late 2019. Reading it in that order shows a move from video and performance work to released recordings.
- 2015: From a Distance. A video piece that the Mail & Guardian describes as a “Gqom-Gospel lamentation for Dick”. It is the earliest dated work in the record and already combines moving image with gqom.
- 2016: Bottoms Revenge. An EP, listed with a 2016 date in the Bruzz interview. It is the first recorded release in this timeline.
- 2017: Amaqhawe. The Mail & Guardian calls it the duo’s “sophomore EP” and notes that it was announced in October 2017. It has three tracks, and two of them are credited to the Cape Town Bass Music producers Surreal Sessions and Omar Moto.
- 28 November 2019: first full album in progress. The Bruzz interview describes it as the album they were working on at the time. No release date or title is given there, so treat it as work in progress as of that date and not as a release.
Two cautions apply when quoting this list. First, only the years of the two EPs are stated, so avoid inventing month or day dates for them. Second, the first EP is the 2016 one and the second the 2017 one, as the sophomore label confirms. The listing therefore gives a reliable order but only year-level precision for most entries.
For anyone sampling the catalogue, the two EPs are the natural starting point. They are the dated, released recordings, and Amaqhawe is the one with the most documented detail about its production.
Label and live appearances
NON Worldwide is the record label tied to the 2016 and 2017 releases, and it is also the reason the duo’s live work reached Europe. Bruzz writes that, under the auspices of the NON Worldwide label, FAKA came to Europe.
The one named festival appearance in the record is BRDCST, where Bruzz says the duo gave an intoxicating performance. The festival is the only venue or event named in the evidence, and no year is given for it. Present it as a European festival appearance connected to the label’s international reach, and do not attach a date or list other stops.
Two points help when planning around FAKA’s live history. A label affiliation can explain where an act gets booked, but it does not provide a tour schedule. And performance for this duo includes costume and visuals, so a festival write-up that mentions only the audio misses part of what an audience sees.
FAKA and queer South African music
FAKA’s own statements place the project’s purpose in visibility and in telling a different story about black queer identity. That is a documented aim, and it is the part of the “influence” question that the published evidence supports directly.
In the 2019 Bruzz interview, Desire Marea says: “We started this because we wanted to create an alternative narrative for a black queer identity.” In the same conversation Marea adds that it is important to be visible now, including in the mainstream. The Mail & Guardian’s earlier profile records the same thread. After the first single, the pair said their aim was to be “visible as who we are”, and the paper describes them as working towards the liberation of black queer bodies and identities.
Reading these statements well depends on separating three things.
- Stated intent. The duo says it set out to build an alternative narrative and to be visible. Attribute that to Marea and to the duo, with the publication and date.
- Method. Bruzz points to the videos and the performance clothes as being as important as the sounds. The intent is carried through image as much as through audio.
- Reach. Marea frames mainstream visibility as a present goal in 2019. A claim that FAKA changed the scene as a whole needs its own evidence and should not be assumed from these quotes.
The safest phrasing is that FAKA has made queer black visibility an explicit part of its work, and that it has said so in named publications. That keeps the claim on what the duo and its interviewers have stated.
Frequently asked questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What does the name FAKA mean? | In Zulu, “faka” means “occupy”, “penetrate” or “conquer”, according to the 2019 Bruzz interview. |
| Which track closes Amaqhawe? | The three tracks are Isende Lendlela, Uyang’khumbula and Inhliziyo. The Mail & Guardian calls Inhliziyo the final track and says it plays things slightly more straightforwardly. |
| Who produced Uyang’khumbula? | Vukani Chamane and Mnotho Chamane produced it, per the Mail & Guardian. |
