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Amapiano was born in townships and is now taking off as an
international phenomenon
THE BEAUTIFUL CHAOS OF AMAPIANO
“You can feel the pain in the music...” Juls is describing Amapiano, yet another new musical movement to come from South Africa’s Gauteng province after Kwaito, Gqom, isiGhubu and diBarcardi. At the start of March, the Ghanaian-born, UK-based artist travelled to Soweto, a city in the region, to immerse himself in the genre. Initially developing in the mid-2010s and coined by SAMA winning producers MFR Souls, Amapiano soundtracks nightlife, aspirations of wealth and hedonistic escapism among Gauteng’s revellers — coming to the fore as the sound of Black lives alchemising their woes on weekday and weekend alike. In Soweto, Juls recorded a pair of songs with two of the scene’s prominent voices, Busiswa and Amos “ Aymos ” Shili, signalling a turn in the genre’s fate towards international prominence. ‘Soweto Blues’ encapsulates his statement, presenting the juxtaposition of struggle and elation present in the music’s anatomy and the townships from which it came. Along with the abundant log drums, signature shakers, cloud-like pads and staple keys, Amapiano stirs up a sense of anticipation that ever more artists are gravitating toward.
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