Tag: kwaito

South African GLOW Artist Mx Blouse Proudly Combines Hip-Hop Beats With Dance, Kwaito, and Queer Themes

October 24, 2023

Johannesburg-based creative Sandi has been a writer ever since they could remember. Short stories and poetry gave way to a career in journalism, and, eventually, to song lyrics that were inspired by American hip-hop artists like Ms. Lauryn Hill and Nas. In 2016, after quitting their journalism job and traveling in Southeast Asia, Sandi wrote a set of lyrics to layer on top of their friend’s beats. “I didn’t know a thing about music at the time,” Sandi told For the Record. “I didn’t know about mixing or mastering. I just thought the song was done. ” Shortly later, it was posted to Soundcloud.

Suddenly after publication, blogs back home began picking up the song, and called to Sandi to release more songs and perform. Sandi quickly began writing, looking to communicate in their own authentic voice, and then returned to South Africa to begin rapping live.   

“The feeling of being onstage is what convinced me, okay, this is what I want to do,” they said. “I went up to my sister after the show and said, ‘sis, I don’t know how I’m going to pay rent, so I’m moving in with you. And I’m going to try to make this music thing work.’ And she said, ‘after what I saw tonight, go ahead.’” 

Since then, Sandi’s been releasing hip-hop tracks centering their non-binary queer and South African identities as Mx Blouse. They’ve garnered a monthly listening base and picked up steam abroad. And this month, as Spotify’s GLOW spotlight artist, we’re supporting them on our flagship GLOW playlist, as well as through billboards and other efforts. 

As much as Sandi has discovered and developed their voice since sharing that first song, barriers persist. “I kind of feel alienated from hip-hop as a queer person,” they shared. “I don’t really feel like I’m part of that community. A lot of my community are people in the dance music circuit. And I love dance music myself, so I’ve been trying to mold those two worlds together because I do love hip-hop, as much as I feel alienated from it. I’m trying to mix hip-hop with dance music sounds and obviously, talking about my queer experience.”

In addition to drawing inspiration from local queer creators like Athi-Patra Ruga and genres like kwaito, Sandi has found an incredible source of joy and hope in American rapper Lil Nas X. Growing up without much LGBTQIA+ representation, they simply never expected to see a Black, queer, global pop star. “What he’s achieved is something close to impossible,” Sandi shared. 

“It’s a struggle for a lot of queer artists, trying to fit into a music industry that, for the most part, doesn’t see you,” they said. “I’m also very blunt about my gender and my sexuality. If you listen to ‘ICON,’ there’s a part where I’m like ‘I’m not a rapper telling you that I’m an icon.’ It’s me recognizing that I’m not a traditional rapper, and maybe you shouldn’t see me that way. And that’s fine, because this is who I am, and I’m going to do things my way.”

Over the years, Sandi has learned more about the music industry and what it takes to have a career as an artist. “First of all, I learned about mixing and mastering,” Sandi laughed, “but people have also taught me how to consider song structure and putting a song together. It’s not just writing. Anyone who’s paying close enough attention can see the improvements.” 

They’ve also become stronger as a performer, incorporating a band into several of their live shows, and they now serve as their own manager, booking agent, social media manager and producer. They’re also their own advocate, carving out space locally and globally for their work and work of those around them. “Recently, my friends and I got together to do a fundraiser for queer people in Uganda because their existence has been outlawed. Being pushed to do that, first of all, was very scary, but the feeling of being able to contribute to my community is something that really makes me feel proud.”

Sandi unabashedly claims that they “love people,” and “love being around people.” What they love most as an artist is a strong feeling of contributing to their community, and even while still early in their career, they’re advocating for more equity in available opportunities.

“I’ve played at a lot of festivals where the queer stages are always separate from everything else,” they said. “In many ways, we can celebrate that and say, ‘we are being included, we are being given our own space.’ and I think that’s great. But at the same time, we are being alienated. Why can’t the queer artist be on the mainstage? There’s a catch-22, in creating something that is explicitly for queer people, and something where all kinds of people can hear you. I would like to see a world where queer artists don’t have to have that prefix in front of them, where they can be artists, period.” 

Catch Mx Blouse on Spotify’s flagship GLOW playlist.

Take a Tour of Places Vital to Amapiano’s Roots

March 23, 2023

From township jive in the shebeens to the piercing sounds of Kwaito and house music across taverns and pubs, Amapiano comes from a long legacy of underground music that has made its mark across South Africa — and now the world.

Amapiano, Kwaito, Gqom, and House/Dance: Four South African Genres That Tell the Story of Freedom

April 26, 2022

speaker blasts music, shown with colors

A country’s history is often told through its arts and culture—and especially its music. The story of South Africa is no different. Twenty-eight years ago, apartheid ended and all South Africans became able to vote in the country’s first nonracial national elections, a day that is now celebrated in the country as Freedom Day. And from that first Freedom Day to this year’s, music has remained an enduring marker of struggle, unity, and perseverance for South Africans. 

The end of apartheid collided head-on with the rise of Kwaito, a genre known for catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep bass lines, and distinctive vocals. Its name comes from the Afrikaans word kwaai (meaning “angry”), and it was spearheaded by the likes of Oscar “Oskido” Mdlongwa, who took inspiration from international house music beats, slowing them down and infusing them with local genres and township slang. By the early 2000s, Kwaito was undeniably entrenched as the sound of South Africa’s streets, with hits like Mandoza’s “Nkalakatha” crossing racial lines. 

According to Spotify data from the last three months, the sounds of Kwaito continue to resound both locally and internationally. Over the past 90 days, the genre was streamed as far and wide as the U.K., the U.S., Germany, and Australia, with music lovers between the ages of 18 and 44 all listening to the genre in equal measure.

Infographic on the genre "Kwaito" shows that the notable countries for listening are Germany and Australia. Top 5 Kwaito songs and artists are mentioned

Just as Kwaito emerged in tandem with the fall of apartheid, a new sound of South Africa’s streets debuted commercially right before the 2020 pandemic: Amapiano. But it’s not only the favorite of South Africans—our data points to music lovers around the world streaming the genre en masse.  

Over the past 90 days, South Africa–based music lovers led Amapiano listens and generated a whopping 149 million streams of tracks in the genre on Spotify. Combined listeners in the U.K., U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, and France generated streams reaching 42 million while streams generated in Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya, and Namibia came up to 16 million. In total, the top 10 countries streaming Amapiano over the past three months produced a total of 207 million streams.

Infographic on the genre "Amapiano" shows that the notable countries for listening are Nigeria and Botswana. Top 5 Amapiano songs and artists are mentioned

Unlike the postapartheid genre Kwaito, the content of Amapiano tends to be more aspirational. The top-performing Amapiano song on Spotify in the last 90 days—“Paris” by Afriikan Papi, Q-Mark, and TpZee—is a love song in which the singer of the hook promises to take the love of his life to Paris the day they get married—something likely unattainable for many at the time of apartheid’s fall and Kwaito’s emergence. In the same breath, “Adiwele” by Young Stunna, which features DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small (the top two Amapiano artists over the past 90 days), is an inspirational anthem about breaking through and making it in life.

Genres that emerged in the time between Kwaito and Amapiano, though, such as House/Dance and Gqom have also received recognition to varying degrees inside and outside of South Africa. Gqom is a genre of electronic dance music developed from Kwaito that surfaced in the early 2010s in Durban.

And while the rise of Amapiano might lead one to believe that these genres are out of vogue, Spotify data points to the fact that the impact of these genres still reverberates among the age band of 18–29. Two-thirds of Gqom streams and 64% of House/Dance streams over the past 90 days can be attributed to this age group within South Africa thanks to House/Dance artists like Black Coffee, MasterKG, Sun-El Musician, and Zakes Bantwini.  

Infographic on the genre "Gqom" shows that the notable countries for listening are Canada and Germany. Top 5 GQOM songs and artists are mentioned

Infographic on the genre "House/Dance" shows that the notable countries for listening are Germany and Netherlands. Top 5 House/Dance songs and artists are mentioned

In the 28 years that have gone by since South Africa celebrated its first Freedom Day, much of life in the country has changed, but the stories surrounding South Africans’ lives continue to unfold. And the soundtracks to the nation’s vibrant streets will continue to serve as musical witnesses, both in the country and beyond. 

Celebrate South Africa’s Freedom Day with the “Sounds of Freedom” from across these pivotal genres.

 

Charting the Meteoric Rise of South Africa’s AmaPiano

October 2, 2019

During the early days of its popularity in 2016, AmaPiano, the uniquely South African take on house music, circulated via low-quality file shares on messaging apps and online forums. Developed by bedroom producers with limited resources, the music spread from phone to phone faster than anyone expected; by early 2019, you couldn’t walk through the streets of South Africa without hearing AmaPiano’s sunny melodies seeping into the air from car windows and phone speakers

“If you put one hundred guys in a room and you asked them where [AmaPiano] started, you’ll get one hundred answers and some very heated debates,” said Siphiwe Ngwenya, cofounder of Born in Soweto, a homegrown label that’s backed AmaPiano since its early days. 

Indeed, tracing the AmaPiano sound back to a single artist (or 10 for that matter) is almost impossible. The list of producers attached to AmaPiano reads like a small town’s phone directory, a byproduct of a movement that developed in the annals of the internet. Still, in the three years the genre’s been around, artists like Kabza de Small and Mfr Souls have emerged as key players, inspiring a new crop of DIY beatmakers and DJs. 

The genre’s popularity with bedroom producers may also have something to do with its well-established sonic lineage. AmaPiano’s sound is somewhat, though not entirely, influenced by kwaito—a midtempo, lyrically rich brew of R&B, hip-hop, and house that emerged from Gaunteng in the ’90s. Both genres combine the drum patterns and basslines of their 4/4 cousins, but AmaPiano carries a cheery brightness—characterized by jazz-inflected keys, eager vocal cuts, and organ licks constructed over a laid-back 115 bpm framework—that kwaito lacks. 

South African DJ and radio host DJ Da Kruk attributes the success of AmaPiano to a wider DJ culture. “The AmaPiano movement has a huge mixtape culture attached to it, which I think was a vehicle to move new music from one ear to the next while promoting your DJ skills and mixing capabilities.” Da Kruk has been on the scene for years and hosts his own radio show dedicated to AmaPiano. He’s watched it balloon into a movement, as has Miz Dee—a DJ and one of the leading female figures in South Africa’s dance community. Throughout her career, she’s witnessed the trends in dance music change from the early days of Afro house to the more recent techno-leaning gqom. 

“AmaPiano is now by far the most talked about and the most relevant house music genre in South Africa,” Miz Dee told For the Record. “It’s a culture of its own.” And the genre isn’t contained within the borders of one country anymore. Its influence is spreading like ink in water to Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. 

Now, it doesn’t matter what city you’re in or club you’re going to. Everyone seemingly responds to AmaPiano’s shimmering sound, and Da Kruk believes in its inclusivity. “I was fortunate to see the impact of kwaito music and what it meant for the then-young democracy that South Africa was. It became the voice of local youth to push for systematic change and fight the exclusion of the marginalized. I can’t help but think that AmaPiano is doing just that so far for this generation of young South Africans, and I can’t wait to see how many more boundaries it’ll break.”

Maybe it was the unique yet accessible sound of AmaPiano that drew throngs to its beats, or the influence of social media. Maybe it was the sheer output of new songs—a veritable deluge—that never allowed attention to falter. Whatever the reason, AmaPiano isn’t going anywhere. It has transformed into a culture with its own festivals, club nights, and (specifically in Mznasi) its own form of dance.

Check out AmaPiano Grooves—Spotify’s recently launched playlist—for a celebratory crash course in South Africa’s homegrown brand of house.