South African DJ Black Coffee has always decried the pigeon-holing of African music onto the side-stage as opposed to what he called the "main stage" of music events and festivals.
Now, the musician, whose real name is Nkosinathi Maphumulo, is celebrating a long-held ambition after winning a Grammy award for Best Dance/Electronic Album for his seventh studio record, Subconsciously - the first African to win this category. Most previous African Grammy winners have achieved their awards in the World Music category.
"My phone went absolutely crazy the second the award was announced," Black Coffee told the BBC." Hearing that I had won, and then going up on stage to accept the award, still feels incredibly surreal and probably will for a little while."
The superstar DJ - who has performed to hundreds of thousands of people at the prestigious Coachella music festival, in Ibiza and clubs around the world - had wanted his latest record to gain international recognition.
Wearing an all-white suit and accompanied by his son to collect his first Grammy, the DJ, producer and songwriter was for once lost for words and simply started his acceptance speech with the word "wow".
On his way up to get the award he embraced French DJ David Guetta, who featured on the album: "I saw David on my way up to the stage to accept the award and we shared a brief, special moment."
