rolling Afropop / Afrobeats / Afrodance 2019

yeah it seemed meaningful to me at the time since the Fader feels more parochial to me these days (meaning, at least, that their dancehall and afropop coverage has significantly dwindled compared to a few years back)

picking up on longneck's question, it's p interesting to see Santi on a list/site like this: https://music.avclub.com/5-new-releases-we-love-a-sexy-riff-heavy-collision-a-1835105291

ok scrolling through Reeves's twitter it makes more sense now

Well... when I tried to pitch Santi to some of my closest musical friends recently it turned out they already knew about him from another friend who usually doesn't follow this kind of music too closely. So I'm thinking he must have hit some sort of trendy nerve and could actually blow up.

It'll be interesting to see how the new Goldlink single featuring Maleek Berry (and Bibi B) does. He's on the Santi album so there might be some sort of connection here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP3YqHqDVVY&frags=pl%2Cwn

Btw, I stumbled upon this Big Zulu feat. Kwesta and it's growing on me fast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR7R_8LXGIY&frags=pl%2Cwn

ouch pitchfork does not like the Santi album

pffftfork

tbh his problem with Santi is similar to why I wasn't taken with Odunsi--though he's more comfortable with basically saying "this doesn't sound Nigerian enough" than I am--so I'll admit I'm less enthused about listening to it now. Does anyone here rep for the whole album?

I listened to the album twice so far, and though I quite enjoyed it, apart from the singles there was hardly anything that stood out for me or that I felt like playing again afterwards (well, maybe “Raw Dinner”), and the review does a good job of pinpointing why that might be. And yes, it’s very similar to the Odunsi situation, although I feel, as I said upthread, Santi is the more interesting of the two.

Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate and enjoy the genre as an extra flavour on the Naija (in this case) smorgasbord, it’s all that “heralding the future of Afropop” (© The Native) stuff that bugs me. If that’s the future, I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. I much prefer the present, thanks.

I guess I like the idea of Afropop infiltrating and upsetting the Drakosphere much better than the idea of the Drakosphere infiltrating and overtaking the world of Apropop.

Apropop? Yeah, that would be the perfect hybrid.

The song that ended Rema’s reign: Mayorkun + Kizz Daniel + Young John = the throwback that is “True”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLpfxDFSN7E

Footnote: So last week I left out something about Don Jazzy probably pinching his arm about Rema’s unexpected success after the protracted slump of his Mavin Records and the loss of Reekado and Tiwa - too much inside baseball, I felt. But lo(l) and behold, that very same day he came out again with his Mavins, pretending it’s still 2014 and we’re still living in Dorobucci Land. Will order be restored?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-pwj2SEUd8
Mavins ft. Don Jazzy, Korede Bello, Rema, DNA & Crayon • All Is In Order

(not sure how well this fits in with the plan outlined in that Native piece
to develop Rema as a not-your-typical-afropop artist)

In other news: Wande’s still got it (see also the Amaarae track posted over the weekend):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snpa4_kUkkg
melvitto ft. Wande Coal • Gentility

All is in order does sound very 2014, but it sure made me realize how much I've been missing the sound of Don Jazzy's voice.

And no, the Santi album isn't all that great and is not the future of anything, but it does have about three really good songs on it from a brand new artist and that's what matters.

In other news I woke up wondering if there had been a better artist producer combo in any genre over the last couple of years than Niniola and Sarz? Designer is sooooooo good.

Also... on the evidence of Diet I think Tiwa Savage could benefit a lot from working more with Sarz - he loosens up the tiny stiffness that is often holding her back just a bit.

hum. I tried a few Santi tracks (Sparky, Rapid Fire, Maria...) and... I don't really get the excitement : it's not bad at all but it's nothing special imo.

listening to the Santi album and "RX-64" is really lovely at the very least

i haven't really kept up with whatever hype there's been surrounding Santi in the western press lately but the album is quite enjoyable overall, though not really exciting. it is interesting to see the influence go back the other way, and he does this sound a lot better than Drake ever has

Santi is also on this nice Juls song:
https://youtu.be/BxHLZMeb7-Q

...and he provides the flourish at the end of my favorite track on the Kwesi Arthur album (the hottest thing in Ghana right now):

https://m.soundcloud.com/kwesiarthur/kill-my-spirit-ft-sarkodie
Kwesi Arthur ft. Sarkodie & Santi • Kill My Spirit

#standingupforsanti

South African interlude - also to let you all know that there is some good new stuff on the House of Sun-El thread.

Two recent discoveries from 2018:

Muzi • Bantu Space Odyssey:
Spotify link

(brought to me by my Spotify Discover Weekly. It’s from his album Afrovision, which is good, as is his new EP.)


Tendaness ft. Bholoja & LO • Jika:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPHn3UTNSZQ

(this is actually from eSwatini/Swaziland. The guy’s got a new album out, which I haven’t heard yet but I’m very curious about)

LOVE that Tendaness track.

It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Love the video as well.

i'm legit playing it on a loop. (it was released last year? cannot really believe that the vid has so few views!)

I did the same after I found out about the track this morning. It felt like a little miracle.

It was mentioned in this interview with singer S-Tone, one of the guest vocalists on last year’s Sun-El Musician album.

Yeah! Very nice. It has about 8 000 streams on Spotify at the moment, lol.

I like that Tendaness album. Sure, “Jika” is the best track, but it’s consistently good, different vocalists and all (including a Slovakian singer!).

(which reminds me: the new Mafikizolo single has a verse in German!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMBWFJYpe1k

Mafikizolo ft. Joy Denalane • Bathelele)

Whoa, the new Kizz (yes, another one) is really good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As1fCxmMBQ0

Kizz Daniel • Eko (with PhilKeyz, low key of one Naija’s most interesting producers of the past years)

It’s been a while since I liked an Orezi single this much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Xt6enVKY0

Orezi • My Queen (produced by Mystro)

Some discussion (from 28 May onward) on of all places, the Rolling herky-jerky thread about the three singeli albums (by Jay Mitta, Duke, and Sisso) released by Ngyege Nyege Tapes in the past months.

These albums are all instrumental stuff, with one exception: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AJtXChPuIU

Jay Mitta ft. Dogo Mjanja* • Tatizo Pesa

(*not to be confused with bongo flava artist Dogo Janja)

Good recent article on singeli: https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3442

So... here is where I’m trying to make sense of the shifting movements in South African house:

Let’s start with some good old spanking gqom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C2ywdq5aa4

Aquatick ft. DJ Tira, Joocy, Pianola SA, Rooh, Mamoliza & Fezy Gold • Sunday Morning

And this, from last year, but so fucking good (and also involving DJ Tira): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxp9WxVTngU

CampMasters ft. DJ Tira, Thuli Chesah & Mapopo • Izingane Zama Extreme

I love Mreyza’s Ethekwini EP: “Anger”: Spotify link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRoCpCi_TLQ
Mreyza ft. Madanon • eThekwini
Soundcloud link, just in case.

But… the dominance of gqom in the charts appears to be over - for now at least. Now it’s the Amapiano/amaPiano/amapiano/Mapiano sound that reigns supreme.

Even apart from the Sun-El and Simmy stuff, smoother (like Malumz On Decks’ epic “Shay’iNumber”) and sparser (think DJ Sumbody) house sounds had been on the rise during 2018, contrasting with the frantic Wall of Beats and Sound that is gqom, but amapiano feels like the real anti-gqom. It’s jazzy, dreamy deep house, with very characteristic p(l)opping bass, and of course, as the name suggests, keyboard-heavy (piano or organ).

The sound (mainly instrumental at first, I think) has spread from Pretoria, where it originated, to the rest of the country in the past few years. I have the impression that the addition of chanted catchphrases (by MCs) and vocal toplines is relatively new, but I might be wrong. It’s difficult to find good sources on SA music (hint: if anyone has any suggestions…) This is about the only informative article on it I could find: https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/sundayworld/lifestyle/2019-05-28-amapiano-a-new-movement-period/
(btw Amapiano must be the only known musical genre known to man that is critiziced for being both too “ratchet” and a “snoozefest”.)

I already posted some examples in the past few months: Kwiish SA’s “Iskathi (Gong Gong)” (a big hit, and one of my favs of this year); Kabza De Small’s “Amabele (Shaya)” (Kabza is a big player, it was posted on the Sun-El thread); MFR Souls’ “Bamb’ikhanda” (for that MC thing, plus: great video); and most recently, KayGee DaKing & Bizizi’s “Kokota” (top 10 in SA, check that bass sound!).

Here are some more:

The biggest track in SA right now (is Larry Heard in the house?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAFzhL7XbCo

DeMthuda ft. Njelic • Shesha

This one is a bop! Another pop smash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SldyCVP02VM

Zero12Finest ft. ThaMagnificent2 • Baby Are You Coming?

...and when DJ Maphorisa steps in, you know the deal is sealed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTlR3vyIjkY

DJ Maphorisa & Kabza De Small ft. Kaybee Sax • Scorpion Kings

(They have a collaborative EP out – not on Spotify yet, but it’s on Maphorisa’s Soundcloud.)

Other kwaito veterans like the highly adaptable DJ Vetkuk vs. Mahoota, Oskido, and DJ Cleo have amapiano tracks out as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AluaRRyCc70

DJ Vetkuk vs. Mahoota ft. DrumPope, Soul Dictators & Leehleza • Abagezi Labafana

btw, besides all of the above, the AmaPiano mix compilations are good as primers. Volume 4 is the most recent edition (and a #1 album in SA, that’s how popular the sound has become)

All of this means that “Club Controller” and “Banomoya” were the culmination of gqom-as-chart-music, and not the beginning of a new exciting sound, but here we are (again, for now).

It looks like Prince Kaybee himself had already seen the writing on the wall. When it came out, I heard “Fetch Your Life” as a throwback to his older sound and couldn’t quite make sense of that. I’m reposting it because it has a video now and I never fully realized before just how beautiful it is. (It’s quite uptempo compared to the amapiano stuff, but it does have that amapiano bass.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oedqjPVN-U8
Prince Kaybee ft. Msaki • Fetch Your Life

(Msaki is also on Tresor’s gorgeous “Sondela” – check out the Sun-El and Song of Summer threads for that one)

Follow-up “Gugulethu” has a touch of that Sumbody sparseness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s6CuEsjhGA
Prince Kaybee ft. Indlovukazi, Supta & Afro Brotherz • Gugulethu

Even TNS, (allegedly!) the principal forger of the Club Controller/Banomoya sound, followsup his banger “My Dali” with two much mellower tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-I6_KLz-g
TNS ft. Fey • Uzongilinga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g2sRTWCWL8
TNS ft. Zameka & Londie London • I Believe

Sorry, that TNS track is titled “Believe”, it should be “...and not the beginning of a new exciting *direction*...”, and I missed a few commas, but yeah...

"Baby Are You Coming" on a loop. dope track.

Thanks for the update, breastcrawl! Will check all this new stuff out.

Baby are you coming is definitely a jam.

i think i've played it about twenty or thirty times since yesterday.

Wondering what you’re all making of “Shesha”, since that is the (even) bigger hit. It’s definitely a lot less immediate, I’d say.

going to be real: i like it okay, but the vocal track sounds strained in a way that really doesn't fit with everything else the track is doing. it isn't even an interesting juxtaposition...i'd almost prefer it as an instrumental.

in fact, yeah, i'd really like an instrumental of it, toss the vocal track.

I really like Shesha. Hearing it back to back with Baby... made this whole amapiano thing come together for me for the first time, actually. I’ve been seeing it around for a while without really grasping what it’s all about.

However, I must say that I’m getting some v strong early 90s vibes from a lot of these instrumental tracks and it’s *almost* bothering me. Not because I don’t like the music (and did back then). It just sounds a bit too familiar.

I didn’t mention Larry Heard for nothing, and the percussion on “Iskhathi (Gong Gong)” reminds me of Frankie Knuckles/Nightwriters’ “Let The Music (Use You)”. To me these are good things. That bass, the beats and all the other stuff they throw in make it sound new and fresh.

Yeah, for sure. It was just a bit... unexpected. I’ll get used to it.

Let the music use you lol!

“Shesha” is a weird track though. I went in expecting something like his (=DeMthuda’s) “Blissful Day” (which is beautiful), but with more hooks (since it was charting so high), but I found the music quite underwhelming tbh. The vocal track only started to sink in and grow on me later, but it’s what makes it such a big hit, from what I’m seeing. People are going apeshit over that hook:

shesha geza
masiy’e partyini, baby ngiyak’cela

which translates as:
hurry up, take a bath
let’s go to the party, I beg you baby

(probably loses something in translation, idk)

I do prefer “Baby Are You Coming” by a large margin though.

This is that “Blissful Day” track btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko3VpZFW_JY
Again, that bass is what makes amapiano imo.

Shesha is a banger