Embracing a vision that the city of Cape Town has longed for, Mødular stands as the ultimate electronic music hub in the city, fostering artistic exploration and pioneering the South African approach on the scene. Since its establishment in 2017, the venue has breathed new life into a former basement, progressively increasing its capacity and creating a safe community for musical discovery as well as reshaping the experimentation of sounds in the area.
As the club turns 7 years old, we got to celebrate by diving deep into their journey with co-founders Jed Cohen, Costa Chibwe and Patrick Tsipeng. Read on and watch for the full scoop!
Mødular‘s behind-the-scenes story is also a tale of personal overcoming. What was the journey like from working in other fields to your first bookings at Mødular?
Costa: My name is Costa Chibwe. I’m originally from Zambia. I came to South Africa at a very young age. I was about 19 years old. I’ve been living here for about 15 years now. We have been owning Mødular for seven years. In the other eight years, I worked for 5-6 years in the hospitality industry. Started from the bottom, like all corners of the restaurants, knowing more about clubs, entertainment, nightlife. Then later on, I started doing my own thing. I went to school and did a little bit of IT at Cape College.
After that, I tried to do something in different businesses, with the passion always about music.. And later on, we had a great team. I had a great businessman who tried to help us to develop a very good concept, which we are running now, called Mødular.
Patrick: My name is Patrick, I am originally from Congo, DRC and I moved to Cape Town very young, at 18 years old, obviously wanting to study. As you know, studying is expensive. So I had to work to make the money, and my first job, I was just a pamphlet boy. I went to a club, they give me a lot of pamphlets, and I go give them around.
From there, I moved into a cleaner and a bartender. When I finished my studies, obviously I stopped. I went back to the lab. I was doing food chemistry. After, I realized it wasn’t for me staying in the lab all the time. So I got a job at Vice City and that’s where I heard electronic music for the first time. At first, it’s just like one beat all the time and then the more you’re trying to listen the more you understand and the more you fall in love with the music. From there I moved from Bullion Bar to Vice City, to Club 89 and that’s when we started Mødular.
Jed: I remember vividly, like it was almost yesterday. It was in 2017, or the end of 2016, when Pat phoned me up. We had been working together on some other concepts. My promoter night was at Club 89 for some time, and it wasn’t the right fit for what we were doing at that time. Pat called me up and said “You’ve got to come check out this venue we found in downtown Cape Town, in the foreshore”.
I remember walking into the space, and there was just this undeniable energy, that surrounded the space, that would really fit a late night, underground, techno and house concept. From the beginning, we were quite confident that we could make the initial space work. It just took some time to develop and get it to where it is today. But from the out-set, we knew that the space was perfectly set up for what we needed to do. Even though the layout and the arrangement of the space was completely different when we moved in, we knew what we could do. We had like a very DIY kind of setup in the space, just with two small tops and a basement, which quite rapidly developed into what we have today.
As much as the space maybe didn’t have the best sound system or the most advanced lighting ready in the early days, the music was always the central focus of everything that we did . And itset the stage for what we’re doing today, where people could understand that for us, the focus needed to be on the music and the sound the DJs were playing.
What was the nightlife in CPT like before Mødular came along? What changed in the city when you opened your doors?
Jed: Before Mødular, nightlife in Cape Town had stagnated. A lot of the venues that were pushing more underground or left field dance music at the time, had closed down. The rest of them were pushing a much more commercialized sound to cater for the big tourist activity.
Mødular created a space for people to both explore as dancers and artists. A lot of artists were almost sidelined because they didn’t play what was commercially viable or accepted. This space really gave people the opportunity to explore and play music that was sort of against the status quo or not the norm. We were able to position ourselves in a way that we were the space to come hear that sound and we didn’t have much competition at the time.
In just seven years, Mødular has grown from a 300 to 1200 capacity. How has the physical space and club experience evolved to accommodate this growth? Has this process affected maintaining an intimate atmosphere?
Costa: When we started, the target was just for a small crowd, about 200 to 300 people. The expansion came after COVID. Because during COVID, everybody was trying to do hidden parties and to do underground. Which was not really underground, they had research from Europe, of what a couple of years people did.
The expansion was not like it was planned. But after COVID, we had a next door club, which we took over called Lido Bar. Quite a very big space. Numbers moved suddenly from 300 to 1.000 to more than a thousand.
It has always been very tough to run an underground scene in South Africa. A lot of people did not understand exactly what we were trying to do. For instance, we have got a no photo policy, which people did not understand. As time went on, people understood exactly what the concept was through the internet, seeing other clubs in Europe, etc. People understood the secret about the underground scene.
Patrick: When we first started Mødular, it was a very small dance floor, very difficult to put the sound around. The experience was there because the Mødular experience was prepared from day one. We wanted to create a space where everybody could come and have a good time, where there is no any sort of discrimination. With South African background and different cultures, we wanted to create a line where every culture will meet and every language will be expressed in terms of music. That was the core idea of Mødular. A space for everyone where music is on top of anything.
With time, we noticed a big change because Cape Town, as opposed to the rest of South Africa, has a difference in terms of culture. The climate is different. We have a long, cold and rainy winter. You cannot party outside, you need to go to a club. That’s why the club culture was so important.
With COVID hitting, we were very lucky. The community sustained the club. We had people who paid for the staff and for the rent so that the space doesn’t close. That sustained us. And also the growth within music. Cape Townians travel, they go to Europe. They understand what’s happening there and embrace it. That explained the growth in terms of numbers.
There was a need to get a bigger space. We were lucky there was a space next door to us. We just needed to convince the landlord that we would be paying rent. After that, we had Lido. Mødular has a very low ceiling. The acoustics around the room were quite easy as opposed to Lido, which had a very high ceiling. We had to work hard to create a proper sound at that site. Also people were already used to Mødular and take the space as their second home. To create another space and to convince people to go dance in another room was another challenge.
But with the new sound system, people understand what we’re trying to do at Lido. They embrace the room and they’re loving it. Now we’re busy with Hexagon to create a space where people dance 360º around the DJ. It’s still a very new concept, but I’m positive in a year or two people will understand and embrace the room as well.
Jed: When starting out Mødular, it was around 300. It was sort of built in the shell of an old disco club with checkered floors. Avery different vibe to what you see now. That’s slowly developed into what you see today, which is obviously state of the art techno club from all aspects.
The sound system was very DIY as well as the lighting. But it always had this really strong undeniable energy and essence of a true underground space where people were free enough to express themselves and dance late in the night or early in the morning. Many of the regulars, as well as people just coming here for the first time say to us after that they felt a very strong sense of community that surrounds the club. That has been a cornerstone, making people feel comfortable, safe, and free enough to express. Something that wasn’t so common in South Africa. You don’t come here to be seen, or to get photos with your mates. You come to dance and experience music for the most part.
When you first came to the space, did you think that it had the right ingredients to become what it is today? Or was it more of like an experiment at the time?
Costa: Honestly, when we found the space, it was really underground. It just looked like it was the correct thing at that time, we just knew that it was going to work. The space looked very different, but the dream was very big. We started doing a few renovations and a few changes in trying to make the space work to the way we wanted it to be. We reoriented the whole space, changing where the DJ booth was, added lighting, sound system.
It was a little bit tough because we wanted to grow a community. And there were very few people that believed it was going to work . As time went on, we started having more people and we took the business very serious, trying to compare with underground clubs in Europe, trying to research and do similar things.
We had to change the sound system like three to four times. We changed the light two to three to four times. It was quite difficult when we started. And also with the experience of traveling to Europe, trying to see not our competitors, but other clubs that do it similar to us. It helped more and the understanding became a reality, because it was just a dream. And we are now living the dream.
You could feel an undeniable energy that surrounded the space. The exposed brick walls, the dark, eerie aesthetic. It set the tone for a great clubbing experience.
– Jed Cohen, Mødular’s co-founder, for Xceed (2024)
Patrick: When I saw the room, and obviously knowing Jed, what type of music he was pushing, the underground, the style, I thought of him. The space, the bricks, everything in the room, just said techno and deep house will work here.
Jed: In 2017, I still remember Pat calling me up and letting me know that he had potentially found a space for a late night dance club. I was doing events at various locations and we sort of needed a home. He pulled me in and said, just come check out this space in the foreshore. I remember walking down the ramp into the club or even just down the alley, you could feel that there was this undeniable energy that surrounded the space. We knew it was set up correctly for a house and techno club.
We were very lucky at the time to find a viable space so quickly. Just the way that it’s set up with the exposed brick walls, the dark, eerie aesthetic, It really set the tone for a good night out and a great clubbing experience. The space has developed a lot since then. But even that very early iteration of Mødular still kept the same essence and energy it has today.
What’s the current state of the business in South Africa? Are there any challenges specific to your scene to develop as a legitimate cultural entity?
Costa: It’s quite different to compare the African underground to the European one. We have had lots of challenges in terms of the culture, the view, just the understanding of what we do. Compared to Europe, the support received from the government and the way they value the business is quite different. It has been very tough regarding the license with the closing times, you can only trade until four o’clock. In Europe, that’s when the party starts. But we are trying to make it work with the laws and rules of South Africa,.
Patrick: We call South Africa a rainbow nation for a reason. There is a lot of culture around the country. A lot of people are traveling from Europe to South Africa and from Africa itself coming to South Africa. When you speak about culture you speak about a language and music is a language.
The first challenge in South Africa was to put in different cultures to understand a certain music which they never understood or they were not born with it. The second challenge is South Africans are known to be very harsh drinkers. When it’s festive people will die on the road because of drinking and driving. That does not help because the government needs to protect the people. That’s why they’re so strict in terms of license. For them to give you a 4 o’clock license they need to check what type of people are going there, what type of sound you’re pushing, to minimize crime.
Talking about crime, South Africa is a country with high crime. The government is just trying to do their job to protect people. For us to get to the level of Europe where people drink during the day and there’s zero crime, it’s going to take time. But in the meantime what we can do is to assist them to create a crime free space. Looking after one another. Making sure we drink responsibly. That’s why we encourage people to always get Uber on the way home.
I won’t put it on the government. I put it on the people. People need to understand that the space we’re creating, we don’t promote any sort of discrimination. We want every culture, every race, every religion, poor, rich. All we do is support music as a culture. We will push to have a space whereby music will actually be the umbrella and safety will be the foundation.
Jed: Generally, in Europe and the bigger world nations, there’s much more support around clubbing and nightlife and a better understanding of the cultural importance that nightlife brings to a city. South Africa has taken some time and we’re still fighting that fight. But we’ve been able to still operate and create a space for this exploration and for a focus purely on the music within the country.
Obviously we don’t live in a country where we are allowed to trade past 4am. It’s very different to Europe where, these spaces can sometimes run 24 hours. However, we’ve been able to still deliver an experience that can keep people coming back through many things. But mainly the pure intimacy of the space as well as the community and the culture that’s been created around.
South Africa generally has had less exposure to dance music for a long time. Now with the prominence of social media we’ve come a lot closer to understanding what’s going on in other spaces in the world and the music that they’re playing. Over the last 10 years with this interconnectedness through social media we can see what’s going on overseas.
And again, a lot of people are travelling to European summer to experience clubs and nightlife and then come back and bring that understanding and culture to South Africa. It has allowed us to align with what’s going on globally, as opposed to 10 years ago when we were in the dark and we needed to create our own approach.
How do you keep that closely knit community where everyone knows the staff, bouncers, owners?
Patrick: The first challenge was the reputation, people would lose their stuff around there and the crime was actually a red spot. For people to come to Mødular, the first thing in their mind before the music, was safety.
We changed the whole room so that the main entrance became the fire escape because it was easier for us to control people from the lane. We actually started a contract with taxi drivers. They will take people and drop them places and we will make sure the price is as good as Uber and we will take safety in our hands. So at the end, the safety of people was very important. The music will be always good. But above all, you will be in a space where you won’t be judged for whatever you are. You will be free. There won’t be any picture of you tomorrow super drunk or misbehaving. It was music for you and everybody.
The first group of security, which we still have , we had to sit with them every week, training them around safety. Greet the person when they come in, greet them when they go home. Make sure you see them because it’s a community. And once the staff understands that. The cleaner will understand that cleaning is very important. The security understands that security is very important. Everybody is in charge at Mødular. There is no boss. That’s what created the sense of responsibility.
We trust them, and we make sure they trust you. The staff at Mødular, they get Christmas presents from the DJs, the promoters, the clients. We struggled with identifying good people in the community. But at the end of the day, the staff did the most and we need to thank them for that.
Mødular doesn’t need to be in your camera roll rather than in your memories. Each night might be completely different but you’re not going to see it on socials. That allowed us to keep anonymity and mystique that is so important for any dance music establishment.
– Jed Cohen, Mødular’s co-founder, for Xceed (2024)
Mødular has not only given a voice to electronic music in ZA but also maintained an avant-garde approach and respectable know-how. How do you select artists who ensure ticket sales while supporting national talent?
Patrick: There has been a massive improvement, especially when it comes to creating new talent. That is because we identify promoters. We give them the right tools to express themselves in the way they feel is best. We also push to get artists every now and then from Europe. Every time we sit around an artist, a good DJ like DVS1, we all learn the challenge we have now. DJs come from every angle. Everybody can download Rekordbox and become a DJ. But the passion around it, the science of music, the change in a bit is not for everybody. We identify those people and give them a platform. That’s the difference between us and everybody else. Everybody else will see people for the success they have today. But we will see the success tomorrow. Even though they have got nothing now.
Jed: In South Africa we have a multicultural nation and a very diverse musical culture. This spans from early house music through to more traditional sounds and now evolving to many different kinds of approaches. We really try to tap into the various pockets of different sounds that are coming out of our city. Still predominantly techno and house focused, but very different in their own way.
We bring on promoters who can bring something unique to the space within those kinds of guidelines. Often you’ll hear everything, from more classic techno and house through to bass music, broken beats, to some Afro house, trying to encompass everything that surrounds our city and cultural influences of the different people that live in Cape Town.
Some international artists that we’ve hosted are the likes of DVS1, Dasha Rush, Anthony Parasole, DJ T-1000, to name a few. Even the likes of Antigone and Exos. For a long time, it wasn’t us sharing shows with anyone else or any other region. It was truly bringing artists that we thought would make an impact and could expose people to a new sound that wasn’t really that prominent in South Africa. That opened people up to firstly understanding the sound and furthermore inspiring younger artists to play the sound.
As much as we’ve developed within our own space in South Africa, the influence of Europe and the rest of the world has had a major impact on the sound and the growth of what’s happening here. Now more than ever, there’s a lot more aspiring DJs and producers, opening doors and getting Ableton or buying a controller. I’m not going to say purely because of the club, but I definitely think the club has had some influence on that. We hope that that continues because the scene’s a lot healthier than it’s ever been.
Mødular somehow pioneered the no-photo/no-video policy in the city. Does this approach makes more sense in a location like South Africa? How challenging is it for the club’s promotion considering the current urge to share everything on social media?
Jed: From the outset it was always important for us to have a strict no photos policy at the club. This was adopted from many European techno and house music clubs and also from our friends at Toy Toy who were the first in South Africa to do something like that.
The main reasons were that we wanted the focus to purely be on the music we didn’t want any distraction from that. Obviously in a world where everything is on social media we wanted people to interact outside of that space and actually socialize and dance without this social media presence.
Naturally people behave in a very different way and they are more free and open to locking in and engaging with what the DJ is playing and for us that was definitely a very important foundation. Mødular doesn’t need to be in your camera roll rather than in your memories. Each night might be completely different but you’re not going to see it on social media, it’s just going to be from what people who were there told you about it. That has allowed us to keep some sort of anonymity around the space and create this mystique that is super important for any dance music establishment. People feel comfortable to express themselves and be who they want to be outside of a day-to-day kind of modern societal context.
Beyond music, what social and cultural impact do you think Mødular has had on the local CPT community?
Jed: Artists who maybe weren’t the focus for other clubs have been developed by what we’re doing. We’ve been able to take on promoters and DJs from a relatively young age and develop them to play a sound that fits the club.
Mødular has allowed us to give opportunities to a more diverse range of artists who might not have been given the platform in an older context of the city. Now people who started out with the club are traveling abroad, playing at big techno and house clubs overseas and releasing on mainstay labels. We inspire artists to be able to do electronic music as a potential career path. Whereas before it was much more difficult because there weren’t these spaces that catered for the sound and the music.
For a long time, Cape Town and South Africa have been relatively disconnected from international dance music. But we’ve done many talks and workshops with big artists who have really allowed us to understand how things are there. Generally, they feel like we have a really exciting, young scene. Then also gi ve some advice and ways that we can develop our scene further,
International tourists come here and seek out Mødular because they’ve heard such great things about it. Things are slowly materializing. We’re getting amazing support overseas. We are able to showcase international artists monthly or sometimes multiple times in a month, to brand collaborations with big promoters from Europe and abroad which was something that wasn’t happening so consistently before.
Looking into the future, how do you envision Mødular’s evolution in the next five years, both in terms of events and cultural influence?
Costa: We’re one of the best underground clubs, maybe in South Africa or everywhere in the world. We’ve had people that tried to do similar things and most of them were not as successful as we can say we are now. We will be recognized as one of the longest and first techno clubs in South Africa. That’s the dream, to create the culture, to grow big, people to understand it more, and hopefully to have more underground clubs. But Mødular being considered as one of the techno heroes, I’ll be very grateful if we reach that stage
Patrick: Nothing is forever. I just want people to understand that there is no limit when it comes to good music and good people. Regardless where you come from, if you understand what you want to achieve in terms of music, just push yourself. We see Black Coffee today going everywhere. It will die, but we’ll remember his music. That’s what we want to do with Mødular.
Jed: Mødular will be remembered as one of the longest standing techno clubs in South Africa. In five years time, the spaces and dancefloors and sound systems will change. That’s always been super important to keep improving, keep developing and ensuring that we put on world-class scheduling year round so that the music is always on point, exposing people to new sounds, educating people.
You come into Mødular, you’re gonna get good quality music, an amazing clubbing experience. You’re gonna be safe inside the space . That’s been a hugely important part of doing this, making people from all walks of life, all sexual orientations, all skin color, feel comfortable within the space. Generally the community that’s been created around Mødular is one of looking out for each other, making sure people are safe and happy. The security has been a strong part of that.
