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For many business leaders, a long-haul flight means clearing an inbox, preparing for meetings or catching up on sleep. For DJ MidTempo, it is often an airborne recording session.
MidTempo, whose real name is Theo Mseka, is CEO and managing director of Immowelt and AVIV Germany GmbH, a digital real-estate platform. Outside his executive responsibilities, he works as a producer and DJ, moving through afro house, afro tech, amapiano and 3-step.
He is now preparing to release his first album, Cheza Kidogo, on September 11. Speaking about the project and his developing music career, Mseka said music has always been his personal escape from the demands of professional life.
He has spent two decades working as a DJ and promoter, although he only began producing in the past few years. While some people unwind after work at a pub or by watching football with friends, Mseka prefers to go to the studio, follow a fresh musical idea or place a vinyl record on the turntable and see where it leads.
For him, the creative life balances the intensity of the boardroom. He believes in putting the same energy into relaxation as he does into work, adding that he is fortunate his preferred form of downtime is connected to the arts. Music, he said, shuts out the background pressure of daily life, while a strong track can lift someone’s mood before its opening 16 bars have even finished.
Mseka’s life and career also span South Africa and Berlin, two settings that have reshaped both his personal outlook and his artistic perspective. He believes Europe is eager for music from South Africa, creating an opportunity for artists from the country to bring that sound to a receptive audience.
Berlin, he explained, has expanded his understanding of music and creativity. The city is filled with exceptional artists and boasts an electronic scene widely regarded as one of the strongest in the world. Although his work schedule has prevented him from visiting Berlin’s famous clubs so far, living there gave him an important new perspective: viewing South Africa from afar made him appreciate the extraordinary depth of talent in his home country.
Despite leading major companies, Mseka found the time to complete a 12-track album by making music wherever he could. Sessions took place at 33,000 feet and aboard trains travelling between Berlin and Nuremberg, turning mobile production into an ordinary part of his routine. The internet is unreliable in the air, he noted, but music remains possible whenever his headphones are charged and his digital audio workstation opens.
His available studio time is limited to roughly four or five hours a week, which has taught him to use every minute efficiently. Mseka also revealed that he divorced five years ago and does not have a family of his own. Instead of spending his evenings wandering around as a senior bachelor, he chooses to be in the studio.
His financial and professional achievements outside music have also allowed him to approach the industry without the pressure of chasing every trend, booking or potential hit for survival. In his view, that reverses the usual career path. Many musicians work toward escaping the industry after achieving success because maintaining a place in a constantly shifting market is exceptionally difficult.
Mseka has taken the opposite route. He built a successful career in technology and continues to flourish in that field, while music gives him a way to connect the different interests that matter most to him.
Yet without the executive title, the Berlin lifestyle, the travel, the business accomplishments or even the DJ persona, Mseka says he remains the same 13-year-old boy who believes anything is possible when someone commits both heart and mind to it. His greatest motivation is the fear of failing to reach his full potential, a concern that pushes him to improve every day.
