Thread for the AmaPiano awesomeness that is “Baby Are You Coming?” by Zero12finest feat. ThaMagnificent2

nice 1, can't find everything but there's a decent amount on there.

I'll be giving a talk and doing an amapiano set tomorrow at the school I teach at, so I was just wondering if anyone had any particularly good articles about the genre that they'd like to share? It would be appreciated.
(I thought I'd show the yoof the Shaya! documentary.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B9frOKUwz0

from upthread:

Stumbled upon these two articles while looking for sources
https://mixmag.net/feature/amapiano-south-africa-house-music-movement-gauteng
https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/from-south-africa-to-the-world-why-amapiano-could-be-the-next-dance-music-genre-to-rule-the-clubs-1.1065104

― Nabozo, woensdag 23 september 2020 20:07

Thanks for those! The Mixmag piece in particular is interesting.

― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), woensdag 23 september 2020 21:35

I'll be giving a talk and doing an amapiano set tomorrow at the school I teach at

would love to hear more about this! what age are the students? is this part of a larger curriculum or more of a one-time thing?

The 20 Best Amapiano Songs of 2020 according to OkayAfrica, the blurbs are quite interesting:

https://www.okayafrica.com/best-amapiano-songs-of-2020/?rebelltitem=15#rebelltitem15

About breaking amapiano worldwide:

https://www.okayafrica.com/amapiano-who-will-introduce-to-the-world-op-ed/

(of those 20, the best for me are unquestionably "Ilog Drum" and "Jazzidisciples (Zlele)", both nominated for the EOY <<hint, hint>>)

would love to hear more about this! what age are the students? is this part of a larger curriculum or more of a one-time thing?

Thanks! They're between 19 and 63, lol, with most of them being in their late teens, early twenties. The school is part of the Norwegian "folkehøgskole" system, which means there are no exams and thus no set curriculum, but it's geared towards humanist values and lots of teaching of philosophy, literature, art, international politics, creative writing, etc, which basically means I can do whatever I want to, lol. (We're lucky enough to have stayed open throughout the pandemic thus far.)

and thanks, breastcrawl!
What would you guys say was the very first ama-hit to break into the mainstream?

more articles:

https://www.musicinafrica.net/magazine/amapiano-what-it-all-about

https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/the-latest/amapiano/12771394 (short but quite incisive)

(Mixmag piece def the best tho imo)

pretty sure that was Kwiish SA's "Iskhathi (Gong Gong)" (first months of 2019). MFR Souls ft. TallArseTee's "Bamb’ikhanda" was a prettyy crucial track as well, but I don't think it actually charted.

these were my first ramblings about it on Rolling Afropop back then: rolling Afropop / Afrobeats / Afrodance 2019

xp

thanks - that's great stuff

thanks for the response, longneck. I hate to be one of those north americans who romanticizes scandinavian social policy without having ever been there, but those schools sound great and it would be nice to live in a culture where lifelong learning was considered a good thing

finally getting around to kabza de small's i am the king of amapiano: sweet & dust and oh my god why is this 3 hours long lmao

gotta listen all the way till the end tho - there’s a weak patch in the middle (those guitar tracks), but the best tracks are in the Dust section at the back

have just hit the guitar tracks patch and yeah these tracks are just too chill even for amapiano. i would love this guitar noodling if there was a little more going on but it seems to just aim for ambience rather than balearic-esque transcendence

hope you made it through that section. would be worth it.

i made it through the whole album and it was overall pleasant of course but truly too much as a whole, hard to pick up on the back section being the strongest part bc of how it all blends together in an album that long

late advice, but: maybe try “Ilog Drum” and “Balanc’Ise” - best tracks on the album imo, and very different from what’s going on in the first half

anyway, here to celebrate the fact that “Jazzidisciples (Zlele)” placed in the EOY, at #65, too low of course, but I’ll take it.

reposting the video in its honour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGvAKp3fOqg

loved this from D-40 on the rollout thread:

the reason "Jazzidisciples" stands out so much to me is that it felt like a dramatic shift in the sound amapiano had been moving towards -- where earlier records held onto this forward momentum, they figured out how to make a record that felt almost still and static while not rhythmically being that way at all -- all negative space, slow-motion. i think that's why it became such a huge record. If you're looking from a distance it might seem like a minute change, but if you're following all the records that become hits it had this really revelatory feeling, like oh look at all the possibilities this is opening up

btw, this thread will still be here to be enjoyed, but the main action this year is expected to be on this here new Rolling thread:

MZANSI MUZIQ 2021 🇿🇦 Rolling South Africa thread

that is a great post

"ilog drum" is so ridiculously good

really enjoying "bathandwa" from the mfr souls album. that album's been out since august of last year(?) but i guess i wasn't fated to hear this track until it got a video and could thus reach my ears via youtube recommendation algorithm/overlord

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

yes, “Bathandwa” is a fabulous track.

Musical Kings is one of those big amapiano albums that I still haven’t listened to in full even tho all the tracks I have heard are great - see also DJ Stokie’s My Journey. they’re just so damn long!

(points feebly at the Rolling MZANSI MUZIQ thread)

Blown away by A-Star's Nana Riddim ghanapiano goodness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfYvrBjwZA8

follow-up “Free” is piano-drenched as well

question: if amapiano ever hits dancehall, will we call it a) “jamapiano” or b) “ganjapiano”?

the biggest SA amapiano hit in Nigeria gets an appropriate remix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR5uz13lhB0
Focalistic ft. Davido & Vigro Deep • Ke Star (Remix)

(btw I’m still gesturing indiscernibly towards... well, you know)

Voted raggapiano

can't wait for... shabbapiano

bambamapiano

baby keep em coming

do we need a video for the "Ke Star" remix? I think we do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQKKCXXRcKE
Focalistic ft. Davido & Vigro Deep • Ke Star (Remix)

Not sold on this yet - the original is pretty much perfect and some of Davido's shadings seem eh unnecessary - but let's see how this plays out anyway.

it’s interesting to me as a sign of the times (#1 in Naija and all that) - and I think the video is super fun

i certainly dig the fashion

I made a Spotify playlist with (almost) everything posted in the MZANSI MUZIQ 2021 🇿🇦 Rolling South African thread as well as South(ern) African tracks posted this year on other threads, like this one:

ILM rolling 🇿🇦 Mzansi MusiQ 2021 🇸🇿 🇳🇦

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/amapiano-genre-house-south-africa-1191523/

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/9606724/8-things-to-know-about-south-africas-amapiano-genre-a-locals-guide-to-the-scene/

Written by person who has written liner notes for Awesome Tapes from Africa amapiano releases

Awesome Tapes is releasing a new song by Native Soul called “Dead Sangoma”. Native Soul album Teenage Dreams will be out September 24

ILM keeps very little track of all the great amapiano stuff that continues to come out on a weekly basis (both tracks and albums) - here’s two gorgeous new tracks I’m enjoying today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd--jo6PLrg
Mapara A Jazz ft. Mr Brown • Feeling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOC4e-Yx9j0
Sayfar ft. Musa Keys, Seekay, Makhanj & Optimist Music • Ithuba Lam

🎹🎹🎹

“Paris” by Q-Mark & TpZee ft. Afriikan Papi & Cloud9ne, which came out in October, has become a sleeper hit in South Africa, very deservingly so.

enjoy the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORCCxt1xlLI

…but it misses crucial sections, so you’ll absolutely need to listen to the full version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQPutytnnYk

one of the biggest piano bangers of the past several months:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTL0VJM9CnA
DJ Karri ft. BL Zero, Lebzito & Prime De 1st • Trigger

…but this TikTok monster, for better or for worse, is the track that has probably done more than any other in bringing amapiano (and its name) to the world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnZTVUUwgpY
Goya Menor & Nektunez • Ameno Amapiano (Remix) (You Wanna Bamba)

shock horror, there’s nothing South African about it, it’s a Ghanaian-Nigerian coproduction

It's really tacky. I heard it shopping for second-hand baby clothes because it clearly found its way on some dumb-named spotify playlists, and I heard the two female sellers exchanging views on it (one positive, one negative), both evidently having no idea what it is they were hearing. I resisted nerdsplaining as I dropped some cute white ensemble in our shopping basket.

...while chanting: You Wanna Rompa?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVw0Rd8R8DY

short 1xtra doc

🎹🎹🎹

not nearly enough amapiano action on ILM, but I’m hoping this poll I created might get the amapiano party started again, because we’re seriously logging… lagging behind. here’s your invitation - I hope you will all participate:

drowning in a blissful ocean of log drums and keys: 🎹🎹 amapiano a-z 🎹🎹 an ilm poll

There was a very nice 1Xtra doc a couple of months ago - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0c9kkls/1xtra-this-is-amapiano