A decade after making his Ibiza debut, South African DJ and producer Shimza has reached another major milestone on the island, with his Afro House sound now firmly established at one of Ibiza's best-known clubs.

The artist, whose real name is Ashley Raphala, first played in Ibiza in 2016 at Destino's closing party alongside Luciano. Ten years later, he has returned to the island with his own residency at Pacha Ibiza.

His journey from that first Ibiza appearance to a headline residency reflects the international growth of both his career and the wider Afro House and Afro Tech movements.

From a Dream to His Ibiza Debut

Shimza's first Ibiza appearance came in 2016, when he played at Destino's closing party.

According to DJ Mag's account of his career, the experience placed him in a new musical environment, where he was exposed to artists including Solomun and Luciano and began thinking about how to combine elements of the South African sound he had grown up with with the house music he was hearing internationally.

That experience became an important part of his musical development.

Shimza had already established himself in South Africa, but Ibiza provided another opportunity to test his sound in front of international audiences and alongside artists from different parts of the electronic music scene.

Ten Years Later, Shimza at Pacha

The 2026 season represents a significant change in his Ibiza career.

Shimza & Co moved to Pacha Ibiza for an eight-week Thursday residency running from April 30 to June 18.

The residency brought together Shimza and a rotating selection of international artists, with the line-ups including names such as Arodes, Andrea Oliva, Henrik Schwarz, Kasango, Mahmut Orhan and Francis Mercier.

Several of the residency dates sold out, including the June 11 event featuring Shimza, Arodes, AR/CO, Henrik Schwarz and Kasango.

The move to Pacha followed his 2025 Shimza & Co residency at Chinois Ibiza, marking another step forward for the party concept on the island.

The Growth of Afro House

Shimza's Ibiza story is also part of a much larger change in electronic music.

His sound has developed from the Afro House influences of his South African background into a more electronic Afro Tech style, combining African percussion and rhythmic elements with deeper, more driving house music.

DJ Mag has described Shimza as one of the artists who helped pioneer Afro Tech and bring African electronic music to increasingly international audiences.

His career has also extended beyond performing. He is the head of the Kunye label and has developed Shimuzic Productions and his One Man Show platform, while using his international profile to promote other African artists.

A Career Built From South Africa

Shimza's international career did not begin in Ibiza.

He won the televised South African DJ competition The Next Big Thing in 2008, an achievement that helped take him beyond the township circuit and into a wider national audience.

He launched his One Man Show in 2009, while his debut album, Shimuzic, followed in 2015 on Black Coffee's Soulistic Music label. His later productions increasingly moved towards the Afro Tech sound that has become central to his international identity.

His career has since taken him to major venues and festivals around the world.

The Airport Moment

The latest anniversary coverage has also revisited an emotional moment from 2016, when Shimza reportedly shared a video or image of himself praying at an airport before his Ibiza breakthrough.

The moment has since taken on symbolic importance because of how dramatically his career developed after that first trip.

However, the airport prayer should be treated as a personal moment shared by Shimza rather than as an independently documented turning point in his career. The strongest independently verified milestone is his 2016 Ibiza debut at Destino's closing party.

From Destino to Pacha

The contrast between 2016 and 2026 is striking.

Shimza arrived in Ibiza a decade ago as a South African artist making his first appearance on the island. In 2026, he returned with his own established party concept and a residency at Pacha Ibiza.

His Pacha programme placed Afro House and Afro Tech at the centre of a weekly Ibiza residency while bringing international guests into the project.

It also reflected Shimza's broader ambition to create a bridge between African electronic music and the international club scene.

A Decade of Ibiza

Shimza's Ibiza journey is therefore more than a story about returning to the same island.

It charts the development of an artist who used an early international opportunity to learn, adapt and build a sound that could travel beyond its South African roots.

Ten years after his first Ibiza performance, his name is now part of the island's contemporary Afro House story.

From a first appearance at Destino in 2016 to Shimza & Co at Pacha in 2026, the decade has taken him a long way from that first Ibiza dream.