By early 2019, Amapiano, a style of house of house music that emerged in South African in 2012, had taken over the radio and clubs of South Africa in 2012, had taken over the radio and clubs of South African townships and made stars of artists such as DJ Stokie, Junior Taurus, MFR Souls, Mr JazziQ and Josiah De Disciple, and Kabza De Small.
Producer DJ Maphorisa credits De Small, a 28-year-old DJ and producer from Pretoria, with being one of the first acts to lay vocals over amapiano beats. Amapiano borrows from the South African genre of Kwaito, while the music itself blends elements of Kwaito with jazz and deep house. “There is a big debate about which township amapiano originated from. The truth of the matter is that amapiano was born in the soil of the streets of South Africa. Therefore, it belongs to all of us “ Small said in the documentary “shaya!”
Amapiano is popular in South Africa, but it has gone beyond borders. On the TikTok Social media platform, the Amapiano hashtag stands at more than 570 million views and shares of global streams on the Amapiano Grooves playlist on Spotify have increased 116% globally over the past year. Amapiano is proudly South African genre that encompasses not just a sound, but also a South African lifestyle-and it may be the next Africa’s next global hit. The worldwide success of African Music can lead to mixed feelings, happiness over its long deserved recognition, but also concern that artists wll not get their dues.
Over the years, Amapiano has grown beyond being an underground sound in SouthAfrican townships into a globally recognized genre thanks to digital distribution and marketing tools. Now with major internet fanbase and an enite dance culture along with it and in Uganda, the likes of Navio, B2C, Azawi, Deejay Crim, Spice Diana amongst others have already released songs in Amapiano style and in East Africa we are already seeing Diamond Platnumz going Amapiano in a couple of his latest songs plus his other counterparts in Tanzania. Prospect for 2022, the genre Amapiano is certainly going to continue its dominance seamlessly in 2021, having been one of the music lovers favorite kind of music. Also, there is a number of projects lined up of the next year with will consolidate the dominance and lure more artists to join the movement.
Its more likely, we would have to discover more artists who would like to have a taste of the genre. There quite a number of Uganda record producers that are already fusing their sounds igniting fusions of Afrobeats and Amapiano to present a kind of new genre called the AfroUga-Amapiano. In South Africa, Nigeria and beyond, the sound will continue to change the status quo, dominate the various music charts, airwaves and parties. It`s a household genre that has reshaped the industry and lures more of the biggest artists to engage in making some unique sound. In 2022, Amapiano will be one of the accepted, its instrumentals have been one of the selling points of the genre.
Conclusion:
All things equal, Amapiano is a genre that will soar higher, break boundaries and limits.
