MZANSI MUZIQ 2021 🇿🇦 Rolling South Africa thread

love this fantastic amapiano (sort of) comeback by veteran rapper Khuli Chana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nMVq4M8ums
Khuli Chana ft. Tyler ICU, Stino Le Thwenny & Lady Du • Buyile

scenes

from the ILM awesome oldies archive:

Khuli Chana • Mahamba Yedwa/Mo Tsipe (2015)

Khuli Chana ft. Sho Madjozi, DJ Buckz & Shareen • Tlekeke (2017)

this thread also desperately needs some kuru kuru kuru kuruku-chiki-chiki-chi (qo qo):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naiD6DfQKrE
Musa Keys ft. Sir Trill & Nobantu Vilakazi • Vula Mlomo

hard-hitting - keeping gqom current:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tb5YsE2lUc
Skillz ft. DJ Tira, Mampintsha, Beast & General C'mamane • Inhlokohlela

smooth - this would previously have gone to the Sun-El thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMKGzdFoLeE
Shimza ft. Darque & Sino Msolo • Kethiwe

told you I'm a boss you've ignored that - yes, Muzi's always been very good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjBtguG6JDI
Muzi • Interblaktic

are you that Sumbody?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t16VuAYgFUA
DJ Sumbody ft. Drip Gogo & The Lowkeys • Iyamemeza

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMKi85xkgtw
Focalistic and Mr JazziQ - GUPTA feat. Lady Du, Mellow & Sleazy

GUPTA owns my soul right now.

Also... Liyoshona, not to mention Banyana.

hold up - no one has posted de mthuda's gorgeous John Wick yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06_9LOj75g4

holy hell at “Gupta”

Proper beat and chorus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBQx5O0_PIo
Khuli Chana feat. Tyler ICU, Stino Le Thwenny, & Lady Du - Buyile

Se ka buyile
Seng'shiya more, and ziwa more, wang' feel-a more
Wa tseba, wa tseba
Banana bantshwere ma ayi yebo
Ayi yebo, ayi yebo, ayi yebo!

Of course it was already posted :) my bad. Let's say it was for the video.

The new Vigro Deep album, Baby Boy 4, is good. Here's "Take It Slow" with Sha Sha:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUYpxUG8OuQ

Slowly trying to piece-together an amapiano-and-adjacent playlist to convert my dancehall and soca-loving friends that amapiano isn't all endless shaker-intros and polite, un-kinetic rhythms. Need things with strong hooks and big donks. This si what I have so far: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Aq1aR62T7j0pWqGBF975F?si=2de5fbee91524a95 What's missing?

actually Take It Slow should be on there (can't find a spotty link though)

tyla - "getting late"
busiswa - "makazi"
busta 929 - "ekseni"

"skeleton move"'s genre is bolo house if you want to find more in that vein specifically, i don't think it's that closely related to amapiano but i'm sure there's crossover these days

prince kaybee - "banomoya"
sho madjozi - "jamani"

ah, didn't know about "bolo house" although clearly it's a slightly different beast. I'm conscious Sk'Ngiding is from Mozambique, but it certainly sounds in line with the other tunes. It's one of my faves

thanks for the recommendations, will take a listen!

amapiano has certainly spread far beyond just south africa now, there's been a bunch of nigerian amapiano tracks lately (though i don't remember them off the top of my head)

whole lot of examples if you search this year's afrobeats thread, i need to catch up on them all

the dj black low songs i posted upthread fit the bill, imo: "9 days," "jaiva low," "emonate oe bethela de vosho"

I'd forgotten how much I love "Majesty" by Busiswa and DJ Tunez. What a track!

Loving the Sho Madjozi track. I'd heard some of her other stuff and really enjoyed it but it wasn't in the amapiano style.

you're not wrong about DJ Black Low. I love this weird rippling almost drill'n'bassy thing the producers are doing at the moment

actually Take It Slow should be on there (can't find a spotty link though)

So the word in business circles and speculators is that Amapiano will take over the UK soon: https://www.okayafrica.com/amapiano-uk-summer-sound-opinion/
Number one amapiano song right now in SA from the household rap name featuring Boohle prominently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnzy7Vtw7C0
Cassper Nyovest feat. Abidoza & Boohle - Siyathandana

yeah that one's really good

i remember this being one of the posts from after the 2019 trax poll when we were wondering how contemporary south african dance music still hadn't made its international break:

one of you folk should do a proposal for a show on nts, seriously. even just a one off

― ymo sumac (NickB), Sunday, February 2, 2020 1:47 PM (one year ago)

nowadays it seems like nts has been playing amapiano to some extent since late last year, and their latest call for prospective resident djs lists amapiano among the genres in which they are seeking genre specialists

so... maybe it's happening?

sa dance music did have an international hit last year with "jerusalema"

would make sense if amapiano has a breakthrough soon in the uk via west africa etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKO12nnAvrE
Aymos - Jemeni feat. Focalistic

Which will be the first track of his first album in September, Yimi Lo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00j7CQRr2bk
Dzo 729, Guyu Pane and YoungStunner - Ba Xolele

The softest hit of this year ?

Apartheid is getting further and further back in time
Now for something (not quite) completely different:
https://www.noformat.net/album-urban-village-udondolo-78-en.html

The name Urban Village does not just tap into Marshall McLuhan’s image of a global village brought together by telecommunications tech. The name also references how Soweto was created. During apartheid, Black South Africans were brought to the area for work. With them, they brought pieces of their original villages. This helped create a new culture that became a sprawling urban village. Into this melting pot four musicians were raised and met. Guitarist Lerato Lichaba met singer/flautist Tubatsi Mpho Moloi at local jam sessions. Then they hooked up with drummer Xolani Mtshali and bassist Simangaliso Dlamini and Urban Village was formed. [The Quietus]

I'm sure breastcrawl has introduced something like this and had a cool name for it, but this sounds like South Africa being influenced back by Naijapiano.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w3a52eOC5I
CIZA - Carolina feat. Major League DJz & Abidoza

And since I'm on the subject of interesting variations on Amapiano, check this massive track that mixes a Swiss flag, slow house and this familiar Zulu word.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pG3YITIKGc
Dr Duda, Mr JazziQ & Kings Of The Surface - Amandla feat Jessica LM

To which you shall always respond "awethu" to complete the revolutionary cry: power to us the people. Dr Duda has an EP to go with it.

Let's see what we can post to wake this house up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjPK4YpxxFY
Dlala Thukzin - Phuze feat. Zaba

There's a short remix with Sir Trill, Mpura and Rascoe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br7ek7iOMX8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xWd-SpMo0Y
Dj Tarico & Burna Boy - Yaba Buluku (Remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKpr1WyYdIQ
De Mthuda & Ntokzin - Jola feat. Malumnator & Sino Msolo

This is a lovely remix of an electro-pop track by Jo'Burg duo Lemon & Herb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Qe4Aia7EA

Nico de Andrea Feat Darla Jade - Ghost in Me (Lemon & Herb Remix)

Cover of the current Makhadzi hit and it's way better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y60avQjxBEU
Sdala B & Paige - Ghanama

Busta 929 returning with 10 tracks. Out of the ones available so far, I'm feeling this instrumental 'ambient' Amapiano. You could put this in a film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEdi3BPOyEc
Busta 929 - Heartbreakers

i remember this being one of the posts from after the 2019 trax poll when we were wondering how contemporary south african dance music still hadn't made its international break:

one of you folk should do a proposal for a show on nts, seriously. even just a one off

― ymo sumac (NickB), Sunday, February 2, 2020 1:47 PM (one year ago)

nowadays it seems like nts has been playing amapiano to some extent since late last year, and their latest call for prospective resident djs lists amapiano among the genres in which they are seeking genre specialists

so... maybe it's happening?

― dyl, Sunday, June 6, 2021 2:23 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

sa dance music did have an international hit last year with "jerusalema"

would make sense if amapiano has a breakthrough soon in the uk via west africa etc.

― ufo, Sunday, June 6, 2021 3:11 PM (one month ago)

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/various-artists-amapiano-now/

Amapiano awesomeness thread has recent Billboard & Rolling stone links

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

Oh thanks, I missed those.

The RS piece is really good*, but I'm a little puzzled by the NTS/pfork/ATfA/Billboard narrative of amapiano being some kind of raw underground phenomenon, like they can only conceive of African music in those terms even when it's super massively popular by any metric (with AfRoBeAtS awkwardly serving as a big pop Other?). Idk maybe this is a UK perspective thing? I assume West African stuff is prominent there in a way it simply isn't here in Montreal.

* though... "Last July, after four months of enduring the pandemic in South Africa, Moma went to Zanzibar, Tanzania, where restrictions were lax. There, he finished his own take on amapiano, an EP called MomaPiano, inspired by American R&B from the Nineties and early aughts. He also found a new residency at a beach club, where his amapiano sets became a raging success." Hmmmmmmm.

those articles just seem to be emphasising the genre's origins without then also emphasising just how huge & commercially successful it is now in south africa?

"heartbreakers" is cool, reminds me of massive attack

Yeah it's definitely the kind of grave house music you listen to in your sofa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-ITxUqtA9Y
Busta 929 feat. Mzu M - Mmapula

Jorja Smith makes it work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzGIAhqlblM
Jorja Smith & GuiltyBeatz - All of This

lol all the comments deriding "all of this" for not being pure enough amapiano and complaining it's not a south african producer behind it

Yeah I saw that, some people are fiercely defensive. And conflicted: lol at the "export control quality" posture, all the while still seemed to like the idea of having Jorja Smith's vocals on an Amapiano track. One thing that is true is that it's hard to hear this as a "blue lights" type of r&b, I can only hear it as amapiano.

Cassper Nyovest feat. Abidoza & Boohle - Siyathandana

― Nabozo, Sunday, June 6, 2021 9:59 AM (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink

just heard this for the first time and wooow what a banger

I went through the Aymos album (out 03.09). I did not find its first songs very inspired and his Moonchild Sanelly imitation with his soft voice was an early low point, but the rest from Risasekile to Muhle is charming.

Oops, pressed Enter or something. Charming and lyrical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eJCL1qSrkc
Aymos - Rata (feat. Mas Musique & Boohle)

I'll also have to be checking Felo Le Tee who has an album with all the big Amapiano names and has a song trending with Bopha

KdS is evolving with his sound - he's at his most Sun-El here. Busta 929 maybe not so much. I can't complain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An0PHocDud0
Kabza de Small & Dj Maphorisa - Abalele (feat. Ami Faku)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Y3IUx8aS4
Boohle - Amawaza (feat. Busta 929 & Mpura)