Azania is a name that carries deep historical, political and cultural resonance. Adopted by Pan-Africanists during the 1960s anti-apartheid struggle as an anti-colonial identity, for Operation Khataza, Azania functions as a metaphor for the soil beneath us. The land we all share.

Azania's foundation was crafted during a late-night practice session at the South African College of Music, with guitarist and composer Benji Anstey immersed in one of his favourite South African albums, Busi Mhlongo's Urban Zulu. Working a two-chord progression that deliberately avoids resolving, he built a wandering, restless harmonic bed, driven by a rhythmic double-strike guitar technique using a ghost note technique that he picked up in Zimbabwe.

The song started life as a slower, mournful lament, and that early emotional weight directly shaped frontman Sanele Blaai's lyrical direction. Translated, the song's central lines read: "Everyone is oppressing her; leave Azania alone."

Yet in classic Khataza fashion, the track underwent a radical metamorphosis into an upbeat dance groove. For Benji, that transformation is "a brilliant tension": serious, uncompromising political realities "dressed in a suit of armour," inviting audiences to move, feel and digest the message all at once.