It\u2019s fifteen minutes past 11 am, the sun is out mingling with the breezing cold. We take a left turn down the devil street as it comes to life in Mamelodi, Pretoria, South Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Devil Street?\u201d I ask about the boulevard also known as Tsweu Street. On a busy day, as I came to find out, a lot happens on this street that runs for an eighth of a mile before splitting to join other streets of Mamelodi township. Criminals have been shot dead in broad daylight here, not twice or thrice.<\/p>\n
On one side of the street, a group of locals sunbathing outside stores blast \u2018kwaito\u2019 music. A few yards away, another is enjoying bacardi jams from a car\u2019s open boot. They each dance to the tunes holding gigantic one-litre beer bottles.<\/p>\n
Amapiano, currently one of the top most exported commodities out of South Africa if Spotify data is anything to go by, is yet another grooving sound gaining traction on the streets of Mamelodi. It\u2019s been ten years since Amapiano rose to popularity and I am in Mzansi (South Africa) for the decennial celebration of this \u2018yanos music\u2019, as it is commonly referred to here.<\/p>\n
A blend of deep house, jazz, lounge music and kwaito characterized by its tempo, synths, repetitive piano melodies, wide percussive catchy basslines (log drum) and unique synergy, Amapiano became more palatable to many when it got its new identity, when a little known music producer added an engineering component to the synths.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sound changed in the hands of Mdu TRP when he added the log drum in his productions. That\u2019s when Amapiano got its new identity. The log drum came to signify what Amapiano is like if you couldn\u2019t differentiate the sound,\u201d Thabiso Kati, a Johannesburg music executive says.<\/p>\n
Focalistic, who is among the top most streamed Amapiano artistes in the last decade concurs. \u201cShout out to Mdu TRP. When he added the log drum, he saved us all by giving Amapiano its unique identity. There is no Amapiano without the log drum.\u201d<\/p>\n
The log drum, a mainstay in amapiano music, has been credited for the huge success of the genre.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how he figured out the log drum. These boys like experimenting. ..Once he had it figured out, he ran with it,\u201d notable producer Kabza De Small says.<\/p>\n
Although the origin of Amapiano still remains a heated debate in Mzansi, locals here claim Mamelodi is where this genre that caught the attention of international stars such as Beyonc\u00e9, Rick Ross, Jay Z, Jamie Foxx, Kelly Rowland among others, was birthed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to come here a lot at Jack Budha where Amapiano geniuses like Kabza De Small would gather to play the sound when it was still an underground movement. The people here have always accepted the sound since its inception,\u201d Focalistic says.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s at Jack Budha\u2019s, an open space and tavern on the other side of Devil Street, that Focalistic fell in love with Amapiano and went on to establish himself as one of the hottest properties of the sound. Almost all notable Amapiano mavens, mostly deejays who have ruled the Amapiano charts in the last decade, had their first break at Jack Budha.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I established this fireplace in 2009, I wanted to offer space to our creatives as well. DJ Maphorisa, Kabza, Jay Sax, Focalistic, Bongo Beats all began their Amapiano journeys here,\u201d the soft-spoken Jack Budhaa tells me.<\/p>\n
Emerging in the 2010s, replacing Kwaito and Bacardi, Amapiano is the predominant sound you get to hear banging in almost every part of the South Africa you find yourself in. It\u2019s probably the reason why every township wants to claim the bragging rights of its origin: from the streets of Soweto, Mamelodi, Attredgivelle, Katlehong, Alexandra to Vosloorus.<\/p>\n
MFR Souls duo, who are both deejays and music producers, have long been recognised as the first Amapiano artistes to really make the sound commercially viable, despite them not being as commercially successful as a number of their peers. In a 2020 Amapiano documentary dubbed Shaya, Mark Khoza, an emcee and Amapiano artiste, gives MFR Souls credits:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a guy who would play the keyboard along to a DJ\u2019s set. Even in the studio, he’d play the piano over the recording. Later, someone else would come with the idea of infusing that practice with deep house. Eventually, Kabza De Small also played the same music. The genre used to be called \u201cnumber\u201d but MFR Souls came up with the name amapiano,\u201d Khoza claims.<\/p>\n
However, according to music exec Thabiso, it would be disingenuous to solely credit MFR Souls as Amapiano originator. \u201cThey are the guys who get mentioned a lot as far as the birth of Amapiano is concerned, but I think it was a collaboration of many. At the time the energy was profound, creatives were just sharing ideas that\u2019s why I don\u2019t think you can exactly pinpoint the founder of Amapiano. We haven\u2019t been able to definitively say this is the guy who found it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Covid-19 pandemic kick-started the popularity of Amapiano, as South African deejays played sets online for millions of fans stuck at home. In a tribute to Amapiano\u2019s remarkable journey over the past decade, Spotify released a data report, A Decade of Amapiano<\/em>, underscoring its profound impact on global music.<\/p>\n Whereas South Africa leads in the consumption of its own music, accounting for 78 percent, Amapiano has also gained massive popularity abroad. Kenya ranks ninth among top countries streaming Amapiano in the last 10 years after the USA, UK, Nigeria, Germany, Netherlands, France and Canada. DJ Maphorisa remains a darling in Kenya, as the top streamed Amapiano artiste in the country, followed by Kabza De Small, Tyler ICU and Focalistic.<\/p>\n According to Chart Data SA, DJ Maphorisa and Kabza have each amassed over 100 million streams, with Tyler surpassing 70 million Spotify streams and Focalistic\u2019s numbers standing at 50 million plus. As of 2020, Amapiano’s total streams reached 100 million, tripling in 2021 and surging past 1.4 billion streams by 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout my career, I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to have had a front-row seat to Amapiano\u2019s early growth and its later global explosion. One of the things that\u2019s always stood out to me, and which I think has helped the genre achieve its global standing, is just how distinctly South African it sounds, looks and feels.\u201d offers Phiona Okumu, Spotify\u2019s head of Music for Sub Saharan Africa (SSA).<\/p>\n Okumu says the platform has also played a huge role in the growth of Amapiano since going mainstream. \u201cThis is why Spotify is taking charge in celebrating a decade of Amapiano. There has been a growing demand for Amapiano and, as a platform, we have been engaging in a number of activities in support of this vibrant genre.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of what Spotfify has done is the launch of its flagship Amapiano Grooves playlist. \u201cSpotify users have created over 14.8 million Amapiano playlists and this includes countries like Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n With Amapiano\u2019s popularity increasing, the digital service provider also developed a tool that allows musicians to raise money through tips. Ms Okumu says Spotify has also been edifying creatives through tools such as \u2018Spotify for Artists\u2019, that offers masterclasses to emerging and established artistes to upskill on branding, marketing and visibility, to enhance their commercial gains.<\/p>\n While there is no sense of the homogeneity associated with some genres, there are a few common motifs.<\/p>\n Among men here, bucket hats which call to the Kwaito era are a common sight. You are also likely to see canvas sneakers, moccasins and golf shirts.<\/p>\n As for the lady \u201cbaddies\u201d, they would be in leggings, joggers, body-con dresses or loose-fitting pants.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s fifteen minutes past 11 am, the sun is out mingling with the breezing cold. We take a left turn down the devil street as it comes to life in Mamelodi, Pretoria, South Africa. \u201cWhy Devil Street?\u201d I ask about the boulevard also known as Tsweu Street. On a busy day, as I came to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Amapiano influence on fashion<\/h2>\n