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

the one that was only there because it was the only eligible track for that letter of the alphabet (that is, I had played it once): it was “Xigubhu” by Welle SA

i love that one so very happy it starts wth an 'x' or i'd never have heard it!

I’m currently being hypnotized by this track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2LGkIAh7ok
Ch’cco ft. Focalistic x Mellow & Sleazy • Pele Pele

dankie, my president!

I like how deconstructed and elastic Amapiano can be, its unpredictable bouncy skittering fluid dynamics, and I often find that in the rawer tracks, like this Pele Pele. Even if in the end top favorites are still the fully formed smooth diamonds, they need to distill some of that unpredictable primal soup, some of the skeletal tension. Maybe also why Amapiano likes to invite foreign sounds in and warp them to show off its Protean quality. I find myself thinking of the vocals in Amapiano as "toasting", as in deejay, I wonder if the South Africans have their own term for it (assuming it's not called simply rapping or singing). For some reason, Amapiano never sounded only like a house genre to me, it's a bit like another "sound culture" if I can draw such a distant parallel just based on how soulful, dark, experimental both genres are and how closely together they draw the producer and the vocals.

and the genre's so... alive too! This one is currently on the number one spot on Spotify's AmaPiano Grooves playlist, "added 3 days ago"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdQ-74_lf7Y

DBN Gogo, Stixx, BoiBizza ft. MaWhoo - UYATHANDEKA

xpost "foreign sounds" : like flamenco guitar in the track I just posted :-)

xxp Nabozo OTM. It's hard to think of this as house music - it doesn't do the same thing; I don't dance to it or listen to it in the same way

Since it's the time in the thread where we start pulling it in all directions like wolves, I'll post fresh stuff too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlL0ARRF3I
Dj Maphorisa & Visca - iSandla (feat. Da Muziqal Chef, Thabza Tee & Malumnator)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXP493syN_w
Mellow & Sleazy - Elokishini (feat. Chley, Da Muziqal Chef & M.J.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-YRoPm0AVw
Mr JazziQ - Abuti Wadi Chipi (feat. Murumba Pitch, Zuma, Mzukulu)

I’m still curious about the preferences of those non-voters tho (and about any other feedback). feel free to post them here - the poll is done, but the thread remains!

I can't remember if I voted, but I meant to vote for Crush Yam, so I was either the second vote after stirmonster or I should have been the third. Apologies!

anyway, very useful thread and the top +1 vote getters make a nice digestible survey. I tend to prefer the loungey/jazzy tracks to the harder ones, at least for repeat listening, though I just listened to 66 and Ncebeleka (both Felo Le Tee) and hearing those live would probably be amazing

it's actually Crush Yami apparently but anyway

https://geo-static.traxsource.com/files/images/a157a054bc91d8d7c2424d931270f4a0.jpg

in this case it *is* in fact “Crush Yam” - however, the complete phrase in isiZulu, where vowels routinely get swallowed, is “crush yami”, which simply means ‘my crush’.

oh! okay, thanks :-)

in random piano tracks I can’t stop playing right now, as we speak:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d7wJQHjfuM
Mzulu Kakhulu ft. Gaba Cannal • Gibela (iGwijo Remix)

(there are visuals, but they cover only 40% of the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfN1l3apO90)

maybe that video isn't the remix?

no, it’s the same mix. if there even is an earlier/original version they’ve hidden it very well.

my point was more, enjoy the video (so many piano jams don’t even have one), but the full length is were it’s really at.
(also, weirdly, there is actually a radio edit of this song on Spotify, but it’s longer than this vid)

most importantly tho, it’s a great track

true!

only just learned that amapiano pioneer DJ Sumbody was murdered last Sunday. heartbreaking news: https://ra.co/news/78132

the man has made some of my favourite music of the past five years. “Ayepyep”, his breakout hit in 2017, and “Monate Mpolaye” (with Cassper Nyovest), a year later, may not have been fully developed amapiano yet, but they were definitely harbingers of the new sound. Ashi Nthwela, his only album, released in 2019, is a stone-cold classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1qDvmteVlw

and then there’s the gorgeous triumvirate of singles he made with producers The Lowkeys and singer Drip Gogo in 2021 and 2022, “Iyamemeza”, “Ayavuma” and “Korobela”, which are among the all-time best in soulful vocal piano.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t16VuAYgFUA

I hope he can rest in peace.

I forgot “Korobela” was in this poll too. “Ayavuma” is indispensable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4msf2Q6E8TE

So is this the New Amapiano thread now?

Anyway, I really like the new Focalistic - Tsela Tse Nyane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcJPFQP9T9Y

Haven’t had the time to listen to the full album yet.
Ghetto Gospel: https://open.spotify.com/album/195GWiPzBeREYEZv0sNnRN?si=KiPUphw1TYKjJl5TI7xzlg

It's hard to think of this as house music - it doesn't do the same thing; I don't dance to it or listen to it in the same way

― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), maandag 14 november 2022 12:19

‘MY HOUSE MY RULES’ dropping December 9th 🏘️ giving you “Petori to Ibiza”, the first single feat. @MJ today, out now! You’re welcome🤲🏾
STREAM AND PRE-ORDER IN BIO. pic.twitter.com/AnC8K9ZNuj

— I am vigrodeep (@VigroDeep) December 1, 2022

"Petori to Ibiza": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUE-7jyyJUc

"Tobetsa"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQB5xSpYXvc
(Myztro, ShaunMusiq & Ftears - Tobetsa)

"Tobetsa Remake"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMen1pRNHGY
(Myztro feat. Focalistic, DaliWonga, ShaunMusiq & Ftears - Tobetsa Remake)

"Tobetsa Remix"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY4CxI2a5Xo
(Focalistic feat. Myztro, Shaunmusiq & Ftearse - Tobetsa Remix (Chomie Ke Changitse))

"Not Tobetsa"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4_0U7cSEAs
(Emjaykeyz x DJ Yessonia x Sir Trill x Robot Boii x Babygirlmint x Bailey - Not Tobetsa)

(I couldn't decide which of the first three I like more so here's all three)

somehow part of this got added to the end of the Remake video there, apparently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeEgCPw1sQU
(Kid Kerfy - Emergency)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPuiAUzz1B0
Tyla - To Last

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavS1pKadPU
Tyla ft. DJ Maphorisa, Young Stunna - To Last (Remix)

An important addition to the train of Tobetsas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1tf_TxD00s
Dj mjava - tobetsa

oooh, nice

"To Last" is EOY worthy I reckon

two masters releasing their new albums today.

Vigro Deep…

https://www.ubetoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/vigro-deep-my-house-my-rules-album-2022_12_08_22_10_41-ubetoo.jpg


…and, gasp, Kelvin Momo:

https://i0.wp.com/afrohouseking.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Kelvin-Momo-Amukelani-Album.jpg

These two together are more than 5 hours and 20 minutes! :D

^ found out I'm more of a single track lover than being able to wade through all of this :-(

man, I've heard (the very great) Abo Mvelo maybe 40 times this year but its syncopations throw me off every single time. It's wild.

wait, maybe it hasn't been posted yet?

Daliwonga ft Mello & Sleazy & MJ- Abo Mvelo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syTO0rRYqY

it was mentioned in an earlier stream but yeah

Have there been any amapiano eoy lists yet?

There was on mine! Asijabule in at number 4! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3gXT2QwTDEhRlCURH1CyV0?si=a2511507558644b1

Also - no one told me there had been another Teno Afrika album out this year - only just found out!

ooh, both versions of To Last, eh? I agree on that.

here are 10 tracks to check out (we know a couple already) : https://www.theafricareport.com/266149/south-africa-top-10-amapiano-hits-from-2022-to-keep-you-glued-to-the-dance-floor/

I couldn't decide on which version of To Last was best and figured they're both essential so they count as one slot

StanM that link is broken

there are several lists when you search, but I don’t think there’s anything that could be called ‘authorative’. if there even exists a good SA music publication/website I still haven’t been able to find it after all these years.
OkayAfrica had this top 15 songs list for the first half of the year, but no follow-up as of yet. as for album listings, zilch.

it would admittedly be a truly Sisyphean task. I listen to quite a lot of piano albums, but ranking them? apart from the Kabza one, I wouldn’t really know. I get lost in them, but hardly ever go back, because there’s always an often equally good new one to explore. both the productivity and the quality in amapiano are off the charts, and you’d need superpowers just to begin to keep up with all of it.

the album I’m listening to right now is Toxicated Keys x Gwam Ent Musiq’s The Problematic Friends, Episode V, and it’s very good. TK have worked together with GemValleyMusiQ, whose Abu Wronq Wronq album from earlier in the year was also very good.

xpost : must have been a temporary problem, I can get on there again now

https://www.theafricareport.com/266149/south-africa-top-10-amapiano-hits-from-2022-to-keep-you-glued-to-the-dance-floor/

btw, the Vigro Deep and Kelvin Momo albums above came with very high expectations, but having listened to them once, I’m not too sure about either of them.

all of the Vigro sounded good, obviously, but none of the individual tracks jumped out at me.

Kelvin Momo’s previous album (which dropped in December 2021), is an absolute classic of gorgeously subtle and lush piano, piano as jazz perhaps. it was also almost 3 hours long. the new goes one better (?): it’s 3,5 hours, going in waves, from instrumental to vocal tracks and back. there are beautiful tracks, including several with his muse Babalwa M, but I’m not sure the melodies are at the level of the highlights on Ivy League. I do need to come back to it tho, but [see above].

either way, I would advise anyone who wants to delve in to skip the first four tracks (saves about 35 minutes!) I feel “Umoya” is where it becomes interesting.

(then again, don’t take my word for it, track 4 (“Fool Me”), which I find rather dull honestly, is currently the most streamed track in SA - almost all of the album’s 26 tracks are in the Apple Music top 100 (whereas there’s nothing by Vigro).)

but instead of grumpin' around, let me highlight some of the highs, and they are very high when listened to in isolation:

"Izono" (ft. MaWhoo, Babalwa M & Chley): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfta9KV2u7Y

"Sukakude" (ft. Babalwa M & Sfarzo Rtee): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouYmLAk6OxM

UPDATE: just playing the tracks I playlisted during my first pass of the album, I’m left with a truly fantastic 12-track version (only 1h32!)

the phrase “on a corner called jazz” popped up in my head more than once, and fans of Mr. Fingers’ 1992 Introduction album should definitely give this a go.

I made a Spotify playlist: 🟩 kelvin momo • amukelani (album essentials)

this is one of the instrumentals on it:

“O’Ketsang” (ft. Mick Man): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5KeIcwj2I

Thanks, breastcrawl. In other news, I just finished listening to the Busta 929 album, Fearless, which is surprisingly uneventful. He has clearly discovered the joys of French Kiss, as there are a few tracks that slow down in the middle but it’s hardly enough to keep my interest up over 20 long tracks.

Also, I just discovered he has apparently been cancelled for having sex with underage girls. Oh well.

I like Fool Me, btw. It’s summertime in SA, and it would sound perfect with a sundowner.

The Fader 100 list has some interesting inclusions btw: https://www.thefader.com/2022/12/15/the-100-best-songs-of-2022

you mean this, right?

79. Kabza De Small, “Eningi”

“Ah weSomandla, ngicela ungnike imali eningi eningi eningi.”

Yes. And Samthing Soweto too!