It's no news to those that know me very well that I love the South-African vibe. Their music is just amazing and I can't wait till I finish my youtube courses on how to dance like them. Of all the interesting genres that have come out of this wonderful country, Amampiano seems to be the one that has captured the world's attention.
Amampiano originated from South Africa - Gauteng to be precise where it started off as an infusion of piano keys to a Dj set until it was infused into deep house music. I can imagine what it would have been like at the beginning as we humans do not really do well with new things; the DJ would have attempted to sneak in the piano set as he was giving dope jams and everyone would have gone bonkers on him at first, then someone just goes and says "eyyy this ain't so bad". I know this definitely is the origin story of a ton of different things in the club.
Amampiano's popularity began in 2018 when a similar genre 'Gqom' began to gain international attention. With a similar vibe, as people started to ease into Gqom, they started to pay attention to other tunes that were coming out of the country and Amampiano snuck in.
The genre used to be called ‘number’. But a group called MFR Souls came up with the name ‘Amampiano’ and popularized it.
There is a lot of discord as to who originated the sound but the key starters include Kabza de small, Calvin Fallo, MFR Souls, Dj Maphorisa and JazziDisciples. These guys still churn out amazing stuff as often as weekly since it is as simple as just freestyling on a DJ set.
Zimbabwean-born artist Sha Sha is often referred to as ‘the queen of Amampiano’. She recently bagged a BET award for the best international act. Her sound, which can be categorized as equal parts Amampiano and smoked-out soul, differs from Kamo Mphela (another seminal female figure in the genre)
Music is produced, distributed via Whatsapp groups, bootlegged CDs and premiered in clubs. Popular Whatsapp groups such as Amapiano World, Amapiano Music and Amapiano Fan Base serve as quick, inexpensive distribution hubs to debut music from producers looking to spread their music across the length and breadth of the country.
Besides the music in itself, I believe that Amapiano’s main pull is the lifestyle behind it which includes shisa nyama’s, popping bottles, beautiful women, dressing nice, the latest dance moves, and partying like it's your last. Not to mention, the Ayepyep lifestyle taking center stage in Pretoria, became the catalyst for the genre being accepted mainstream.
Right now, Amampiano is the in-thing globally, especially with the newfound love the west has for Afrobeats and African sound in general. These days, no lounge, party, bar or club in Nigeria can have a successful dance time without adding some of this tune to it. With a lot of popular Nigerian hitmakers also jumping into the vibe, many hit tracks have come out from that union recently and all I can say is "rock on" because I certainly am rocking to them.