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.)
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 8 January 2021 15:54 (three years ago) link
and thanks, breastcrawl! What would you guys say was the very first ama-hit to break into the mainstream?
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 8 January 2021 16:12 (three years ago) link
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)
― partyin' maskless with Rudy G. and Vanilla Ice, it's a gas gas gas (breastcrawl), Friday, 8 January 2021 16:22 (three years ago) link
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
― partyin' maskless with Rudy G. and Vanilla Ice, it's a gas gas gas (breastcrawl), Friday, 8 January 2021 16:37 (three years ago) link
thanks - that's great stuff
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 8 January 2021 17:04 (three years ago) link
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
― rob, Friday, 8 January 2021 17:46 (three years ago) link
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
― ufo, Friday, 8 January 2021 20:01 (three years ago) link
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
― partyin' maskless with Rudy G. and Vanilla Ice, it's a gas gas gas (breastcrawl), Friday, 8 January 2021 20:48 (three years ago) link
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
― ufo, Friday, 8 January 2021 21:19 (three years ago) link
hope you made it through that section. would be worth it.
― partyin' maskless with Rudy G. and Vanilla Ice, it's a gas gas gas (breastcrawl), Saturday, 9 January 2021 23:35 (three years ago) link
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
― ufo, Sunday, 10 January 2021 01:52 (three years ago) link
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
― get down, get down, get down / why piano wenza so? (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 26 January 2021 10:14 (three years ago) link
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
― get down, get down, get down / why piano wenza so? (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 26 January 2021 10:17 (three years ago) link
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
― get down, get down, get down / why piano wenza so? (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 26 January 2021 10:19 (three years ago) link
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
― get down, get down, get down / why piano wenza so? (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 26 January 2021 10:21 (three years ago) link
that is a great post
― brimstead, Tuesday, 26 January 2021 15:44 (three years ago) link
"ilog drum" is so ridiculously good
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 26 January 2021 15:48 (three years ago) link
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
― dyl, Sunday, 14 February 2021 20:27 (three years ago) link
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!
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Sunday, 14 February 2021 21:37 (three years ago) link
(points feebly at the Rolling MZANSI MUZIQ thread)
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Sunday, 14 February 2021 21:42 (three years ago) link
Blown away by A-Star's Nana Riddim ghanapiano goodness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfYvrBjwZA8
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 19 February 2021 18:22 (three years ago) link
follow-up “Free” is piano-drenched as wellquestion: if amapiano ever hits dancehall, will we call it a) “jamapiano” or b) “ganjapiano”?
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Friday, 19 February 2021 19:22 (three years ago) link
the biggest SA amapiano hit in Nigeria gets an appropriate remix:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR5uz13lhB0Focalistic ft. Davido & Vigro Deep • Ke Star (Remix)
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Friday, 19 February 2021 19:24 (three years ago) link
(btw I’m still gesturing indiscernibly towards... well, you know)
Voted raggapiano
― rob, Friday, 19 February 2021 19:35 (three years ago) link
can't wait for... shabbapiano
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 19 February 2021 20:55 (three years ago) link
bambamapiano
― rob, Friday, 19 February 2021 20:58 (three years ago) link
baby keep em coming
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Friday, 19 February 2021 21:29 (three years ago) link
do we need a video for the "Ke Star" remix? I think we do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQKKCXXRcKEFocalistic ft. Davido & Vigro Deep • Ke Star (Remix)
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Sunday, 28 February 2021 12:04 (three years ago) link
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.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Sunday, 28 February 2021 12:47 (three years ago) link
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
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Sunday, 28 February 2021 13:26 (three years ago) link
i certainly dig the fashion
― G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 March 2021 23:15 (three years ago) link
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 🇸🇿 🇳🇦
― Blick, Bils & Blinky • Let's Skip The Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Monday, 5 April 2021 20:21 (three years ago) link
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/amapiano-genre-house-south-africa-1191523/
― tean mean poleand cheaseang theas means hamseak feasts (breastcrawl), Saturday, 24 July 2021 19:13 (two years ago) link
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
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 28 July 2021 11:58 (two years ago) link
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--jo6PLrgMapara A Jazz ft. Mr Brown • Feelinghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOC4e-Yx9j0Sayfar 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
― I'm too sophisti for the pun generator, so sophisti it hurts (breastcrawl), Wednesday, 6 April 2022 20:38 (two years ago) link
one of the biggest piano bangers of the past several months:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTL0VJM9CnADJ Karri ft. BL Zero, Lebzito & Prime De 1st • Trigger
― middot • is • my • middle • name (breastcrawl), Thursday, 7 April 2022 18:56 (two years ago) link
…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=lnZTVUUwgpYGoya Menor & Nektunez • Ameno Amapiano (Remix) (You Wanna Bamba)shock horror, there’s nothing South African about it, it’s a Ghanaian-Nigerian coproduction
― middot • is • my • middle • name (breastcrawl), Thursday, 7 April 2022 19:08 (two years ago) link
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.
― Nabozo, Friday, 8 April 2022 14:13 (two years ago) link
...while chanting: You Wanna Rompa?
― middot • is • my • middle • name (breastcrawl), Friday, 8 April 2022 15:59 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVw0Rd8R8DYshort 1xtra doc
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 24 July 2022 16:27 (one year ago) link
🎹🎹🎹
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Sunday, 24 July 2022 17:25 (one year ago) link
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
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Monday, 5 September 2022 15:08 (one year ago) link
There was a very nice 1Xtra doc a couple of months ago - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0c9kkls/1xtra-this-is-amapiano
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 5 September 2022 15:14 (one year ago) link
Thanks! But some guy called Tracer already posted a youtube link to it 3 posts before you did.
― StanM, Monday, 5 September 2022 15:17 (one year ago) link
lol duh
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 5 September 2022 15:18 (one year ago) link
if you check the poll thread I linked it there as well - in the longer director’s cut. anyway, welcome to the poll all of you!
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Monday, 5 September 2022 15:19 (one year ago) link
Want something major ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7o3F-MVE-YMajor Lazer, Major League DJz, Tiwa Savage, Diplo, DJ Maphorisa - Koo Koo Fun
― Nabozo, Saturday, 19 November 2022 14:07 (one year ago) link
Otherwise I really think the big thing that was released lately is this DJ Maphorisa & Visca album Ba Straata featuring some of the big names.
― Nabozo, Saturday, 19 November 2022 14:13 (one year ago) link
sure, that’s a big one, but it’s not nearly as outstanding as Kabza’s KOA II Part 1. thing is, there’s a plethora of good piano albums (with many also featuring said big names!), too many for one person to fully digest really, and with the festive December summer season ahead they continue dropping like flies. recent-ish ones I like a lot include Piano Over Poverty by Kweyama Brothers, Horumar by Murumba Pitch (also their earlier collaborative Obrigado with Da Muziqal Chef), Ghost by Sir Trill, Two Sides Of My Story by MDU aka TRP, and Big And Small, Vol. 1 by Fiso el Musica.
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Monday, 21 November 2022 20:05 (one year ago) link