Kwaito fire
I have always been a Kwaito man.
Ever since I had my first brush with the sound almost 10 years ago now in Harare. TKZee were just beginning to rule the airwaves and the clubs with a ton of monster hits from their album Halloween. I fell into love affair that I have never been able to wean myself from even now 10 years on.
Two links and three tracks for you:
+ Christopher Porter’s excellent blog, The surburbs are killing us carried a story almost 2 years ago titled “Kwaito, is the sound of young South Africa.” that you absolutely must read.
+ Your second link dropped into my RSS feed about 8 weeks ago from the South African Deep House site deeper.co.za whom I have linked to over and over. It took the form of this link to an interview with Charles Webster, producer and DJ ,extra-ordinary about his initial experience playing his eye-opening first session playing deep house to a Kwaito-loving crowd in South Africa.
Even better is the excellent 50 minute mix by Vinny DaVinci who runs houseafrika.com that you will find right at the end of the article. The pedal really hits the metal at about 20m01s.
And a trio of tracks from the group that started it all for me.
TKZee – Palafala (Midnight lover mix)
and of course, the club classic Dlala Mapanstula
In closing, thank you all for your comments on my last post. I feel a little better knowing that you are all willing to cut me a little slack. And a special thank you to Joe for sharing that it is OK to take a break. I guess that this means I can let you know that everything on heavy rotation right now at Casa Ntwiga is definitely old school deep, Groove Armada’s – Another late night and Gus Gus’s – This is normal (killer! bass! – for those of you who are tempted, go to epitonic.com to pick up the EP of the track Polyesterday from this CD )
One last hit:
+ You cannot, and I mean cannot, beat The Onion for great satire.
Another case in point, fast-food feedbags.
I rest my case.
Yes, Kwaito (aslo known as d’gong’) used to rule the airwavesin the laste 1990s and early 2000s.
Its largely South African music and its name is derived from “amakwaitosi” means “gangsters”. Why it erupted in late 1990s, its because after the democratic elections of 1994 in S.Africa, sanctions were lifted and that gave young people opportunity to listen to hip hop, R&B, Ragga, and a heavy dose of American and British house music. It was promoted by the relaxation of censorship rules in the post-apatheid era which resulted in young artists hitting the roofs. They blended that with own local music incl pantsula. Kwaito is a blend music of all that.
In my opinion, one problem with Kwaito music is that it quickly fades away. Each song has a very short life span. These days Kwaito is being further blended with other African genres to prolong the lifespan, thats why we now have some KwaiJazz.
It looks like DJs favour mixing house music. Are there any DJs elsewhere who have mixes of East, Central or West African music from the likes of Franco, Sam Mangwana, Papa Wemba, etc the same way other genres are mixed on http://deeper.co.za? I think that would be nice to listen to.
Anyone who can post the links of such links?
Anyone with mixes of music from the likes of Franco Luambo, Sam Mangwana, Papa Wemba, etc?
I wish I could get that music in mixed form like on http://deeper.co.za/
Thx for the link, Steve. What a nice surprise it was to read the words “The Suburbs Are Killing Us” in my RSS feed (not to mention the props). Yes, I’m a regular reader of Ntwiga. I was also shocked to see that those kwaito MP3 links still work on my site! I still blog; I just do it “professionally” now for a Washington Post publication — but I haven’t forgotten about kwaito. Check out DJ Mujava’s “Township Funk” jam:
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2008/07/dj_mujava_township_funk.php
(And, yep, it’s fine to take a break. The Internet is a huge, gaping maw that’s always screaming to be fed, but sometimes you have to chow down for yourself.)
Hello Steve,
Please check your e-mail for some tracks.
Thank you..
Goodness Steve,
This is another of my best vibes. can you,by the way, get your hands on some “Soul Brothers” songs also from SA?
Inshallah…..
Wa Kwetu!!!! Can someone tell me how to download some music from Esororo’s page to my desktop? Thanks.
@Jay
Use real player for saving the track. Ask it to play the track for you and save it into the library. From there you can transfer it to where you want to save it. Good luck…
lately it has been quiete in here!…………I will ride on this chance to present some not too old african dance music……….Remi Sah’lomon.
Get it at this blog
http://www.sendspace.com/file/o5kfnh
http://www.sendspace.com/file/rhjysr
http://www.sendspace.com/file/loxbxo
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mth4vc
@Kingsam,
Thank you brother nice music. I have been dancing here.
@Esororo, Kingsam, Lydia, other stakeholders
Pse keep on keeping this site alive. Truly a place for rejuvenation of our hearts and minds is getting chilly.
Hi guys
Hope everyone is OK.
How about some Issa Juma to keep it warm. Here is Jessica and Nitafanya nini. Enjoy
http://www.sendspace.com/file/edgpye
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bplfbw
@ Kingsam
Thanks for some great music.
@ Lidya
Asante sana. Thats the Jessica Ive been looking for years!, pse Upload Pt 2 to complete the circle. Jessica is a work of the late John Ngereza with Orchestra Les Moto-Moto (Why Motomoto not Les Wanyika follow this link: http://biochem.chem.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~endo/EAWanyika.html
Im now registerd with Sendspace. For the first time im trying to upload a file (s) . Pse enjoy the following tracks released late 1970s; 1. Kasongo, 2. Dora mtoto wa Dodoma, all by Och Maquis
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hxdkhd
http://www.sendspace.com/file/fryosp
@ Gilly
You are welcome. Here is part 2. I’ve always suspected that my cd was mislabeled, all the songs are supposed to be Issa Juma, but I could hear that it was different artists. I will post some other songs maybe you or someone else can identify the correct artist.
Jessica part2
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ml5q2e
Mwana wa Ifwe – Artist – Issa Juma ??
http://www.sendspace.com/file/e3auju
Thanks for those tracks. They are both new to me.
Lydia, Jessica brought back great memories.
kingsam, I can’t sit still. Great tunes.
gilly, great oldies.
Had to say something. Thank you all.
@
Lidya thanks for your generosity Jessica; is one of my favourate tracks. the other track, wana wefwe – you are correct, its Issa Juma.
@
Lidya thanks for your generosity – Jessica; is one of my favourate tracks. the other track, wana wefwe – you are correct, its Issa Juma.
[...] recorded first by banerfee on 2009-04-20→ musical link: Kwaito, my kind of sound. [...]
[...] have been saying and writing good things about TKZee for almost ten years now, both here on this blog and other places and I think that this new release just goes to proving my [...]
@Lydia: Can U repost these two tracks to me please?
@ Gilly
You are welcome. Here is part 2. I’ve always suspected that my cd was mislabeled, all the songs are supposed to be Issa Juma, but I could hear that it was different artists. I will post some other songs maybe you or someone else can identify the correct artist.
Jessica part2
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ml5q2e
Mwana wa Ifwe – Artist – Issa Juma ??
http://www.sendspace.com/file/e3auju
Thanks for those tracks. They are both new to me.