Jukebox Thursday: Origins of new age Kwaito

The release of Nelson Mandela from prison and the subsequent advent of democracy in 1994 gave birth to a new sound.

A sound that reverberated in township liquor stores, Gusheshes (BMW 325 iS), weddings, barbershops, and all corners of South African townships.

Whenever it plays, it evokes a need to dance, and amapantsula, dressed in their matching outfit part of which a Converse All Star snicker is a must-wear, do a routine dance called pantsula dance.

This sound led a post-apartheid township subculture into the mainstream, and featured artists like Arthur Mafokate, Mdu Masilela, Boom Shaka, Senyaka and many others. Kwaito, which originates from the Afrikaans word kwaai, contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep bass lines, and vocals among other sounds.

South Africa, being a country influenced by other international music genres like Hip Hop, now have young artists who do not want to be engulfed by foreign music without adding a little bit of Kwaito in the beat. And because of that, we see young artists remixing Kwaito into Hip Hop. We take a look at five Kwaito songs which were remixed into Hip Hop:

1. Tloks Lepara – Chesa Mpama ft. Senyaka