KWAITO::THE ELECTRONIC CULT OF SUBURBAN AFRICA

• Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa during the early 1990s. It is a local evolution of house music combined with African sounds. Typically at a slower tempo, Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep basslines and vocals. Although bearing similarities to Hip Hop and Rap a distinctive feature of Kwaito is the manner in which the lyrics are often shouted, blabbered and/or chanted. DJ Diplo described Kwaito as “slowed-down garage music” most popular among the “poor [black] kids” of South Africa ". (WIKIPEDIA)

• Like hip hop in the United States, kwaito is not just music. It is an expression and a validation of a way of life - the way South Africans dress, talk and dance. It is a street style as lifestyle, where the music reflects life in the townships, much the same way hip hop mimics life in the American ghetto. (SOUTHAFRICA)

• In a country where close to half the population is under the age of 21, youth culture has taken a firm hold and Kwaito music - the new sound of the township - has helped shape a spirit of optimism and self-confidence. (BBC)

• Kwaito is the sound of the new South Africa -- an urban "mix masala" of South African music genres and Western house music and hip hop. It has come to define the generation that came of age after apartheid, that essentially inherited that nation's young democracy. (INSIDEOUT)

Αυτό είναι το μουσικο-χορευτικό φαινόμενο του kwaito. Η τοπική σκηνή της Pretoria/Johanesburg κυκλοφόρησε ένα από τα πιο θρυλικά single της... Warp (!) πυροδοτώντας την 'funky' στροφή στη λονδρέζικη σκηνή του dubstep εν έτη 2008 και σιγά-σιγά σε ολόκληρο τον πλανήτη! Ο επαναπροσδιορισμός των 4/4 περνάει μέσα απ' τα νοτιοαφρικανικά γκέτο και ο συνδιασμός bleep και αφρικανικού percussion είναι σκέτο χάσιμο! 

Δεν έχω λόγια...

link1  (kwaito mixtapes)

link2  (dj mujava)

link3  (sonicafrica)

link4  (thefader)

link4  (african dj culture)

link5  (throwingshade)

link6  (nytimes)

link7  (zzk mixtapes)

link8  (ghettoradio)

link9  (kwaito blasts British airwaves!)

link10 (kwaito.co.uk)