Kwaito+music

Kwaito is a genre of music that was started in the 1990s in the townships around Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a type of house music sampling African sounds and a slower tempo than other ways house music is typically played. You will be likely to hear this music in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. The reason this new type of music began was Nelson Mandela being elected the president of South Africa. Being the first democratically elected president, people found a new sense of freedom and change. This change in economic power also took a great turn to South African music. "//Kaffir//" is one of the first songs to become a bit single of kwaito music. It was recorded by Arthur Mafokate and demonstrated and helped people to show people the freedom of expression that they now had. This genre of music is known as "the music that defines the generation who came of age after the apartheid."

As mentioned before, this music came to be popular because of the Nelson Mandela movement after he was elected as president. Kwaito music its the influence from hip house, South African music, hip hop, dancehall, and house music. All of these genres fit together to make kwaito music what it is. While listening to this music, you will typically hear a synthesizer, sampler, percussion, vocals, and drum machine. The vocals will usually be sung, rapped, or even shouted.

This music relates to the culture we're studying in many ways. For one, it was originally from South Africa; specifically Johannesburg, which we will be visiting sometime during our trip. So if we know about the music and maybe even listen to some of it, we won't be so surprised when we hear the type of music they listen to. And if you listen to it now, you may like it, or even hear it when we are in South Africa. Also, we are learning about the apartheid and we already learned about Nelson Mandela and his influence on people after he won the election. Kwaito music was founded in a way people could express their happiness for their new found freedom. This genre was made and is for and all about the culture of the South Africans.