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Kwaito
Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music and Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep bass lines, and vocals. Despite its similarities to hip hop music, Kwaito has a distinctive manner in which the lyrics are sung, rapped and shouted. Etymology The word ''kwaito'' is an Isicamtho term from the Gauteng townships and encompasses styles that range from guz, d'gong, and isgubhu to swaito. The word originates from the Afrikaans ''kwaai'', which when used as a slang term is the equivalent of the English term ''hot''. Kwaito led a post-Apartheid township subculture into the mainstream. Despite the fact that the Afrikaans language is associated with the apartheid regime and racial oppression, Afrikaans words are often drawn into the Isicamtho voc ...
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Mandoza
Mduduzi Edmund Tshabalala (17 January 1978 – 18 September 2016), also known as Mandoza, was a South African kwaito recording artist. He was known for his contributions to the Kwaito genre and his numerous hit singles, including "Nkalakatha", Tornado, "Sgelekeqe", "Ngalabesi", "Godoba", "Tsotsi Yase Zola" and "Indoda", which topped the charts in South Africa and all over the African continent. His second album ''Nkalakatha'', released in 2000, became the biggest selling album of his career, selling 350 000 units. Early life Mandoza was born in 1978 in Zola, a township in Soweto, where he lived with his mother, his grandparents and two sisters. He never knew his father, his mother claiming that he was murdered the same year Mandoza was born. When he was sixteen years old he was charged with stealing a car and received a one-and-a-half-year sentence, which he served in Diepkloof Prison. Music career When he was released from prison, Mandoza formed the group "Chiskop" along ...
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Zola (musician)
Bonginkosi Dlamini (born 24 April 1977), popularly known as Zola 7, is a South African kwaito musician, actor, writer, TV presenter and poet. Dlamini began his career as an actor, achieving national recognition in the television series yizo yizo. He also starred in the hit Academy Awards winning film Tsotsi in 2005 which he wrote the musical score for. With a career spanning more than 20 years, Dlamini essentially got into music, releasing 9 songs. Zola is a philanthropist and through his show "Zola 7" which aired on SABC 1 he helped a lot of people achieve their personal and social development goals such as building libraries for their communities. Biography and early life Bonginkosi Dlamini was born on 24 April 1977 and grew up in Zola, a township of Soweto, notoriously known for its high crime rate. It is his childhood home town from which he adopted his name. Unemployment, alcoholism, and single parent families are very common in Zola. Dlamini's father, believed to be pa ...
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Arthur Mafokate
Arthur Mafokate (born 10 July 1972) is a South African kwaito musician and producer. In 1994, he released his debut album titled ''Windy Windy'' with the hit track "Amagents Ayaphanda”. Life and career Early life Arthur Mafokate was born on July 10, 1972. He is the son of Olympic equestrian and philanthropist Enos Mafokate. He was born in Soweto, Gauteng Province but his family later moved to Midrand. He became a backing dancer for artists including Brenda Fassie, Monwa & Son and Johnny Mokhali. First Kwaito Hit He released the first kwaito hit with his 1995 song "Kaffir" which to date has sold over 500,000 copies. Its lyrics reflect the new freedoms that emerged after the political changes of 1994, including the implementation of a new constitution and democratic election system. The title, " Kaffir," is a derogatory term used mostly in South Africa as a racial slur to refer to black people. In his song, Mafokate protests against the use of the word "kaffir," claiming that ...
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Boom Shaka
Boom Shaka was a pioneering South African kwaito music group consisting of Junior Sokhela, Lebo Mathosa, Theo Nhlengethwa and Thembi Seete. They released their first single "It's About Time" in 1993, and subsequently released their debut LP, titled "Kwere Kwere" in 1994. Boom Shaka is one of the most successful bands of the mid-1990s in South Africa and their music became the soundtrack for many young people in the newly democratic South Africa. Boom Shaka was able to break into the international music scene and achieve success outside of South Africa, such as in London among other places. Boom Shaka, being one of the leading kwaito groups in South Africa, had an extreme effect on youth audiences throughout the country. Boom Shaka was purposefully put together to appeal to a youth audience by presenting a new sound and a new style. Boom Shaka were known for their distinctive sound, visual style, and dance moves, attributes that contributed to their youth appeal. Boom Shaka is ...
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TKZee
TKZee is a South African kwaito music group formed in 1990s by three school friends, Tokollo Tshabalala, Kabelo Mabalane, and Zwai Bala. The group shot to prominence in late 1997 and early 1998 with their chart-topping singles "Phalafala" and "Shibobo". 1996 their debut EP was released titled ''Take It Easy'', but did not sell well. December 1997 the group released their second EP "Phalafala", sampling Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi". The song became a hit, with the CD single selling over 100,000 units. The group's next big release was in the run-up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. In collaboration with Bafana Bafana and then-Ajax striker Benni McCarthy, the group produced the third EP ''Shibobo'' in June 1998. The song, which contained samples of Europe's ''The Final Countdown'' and featured McCarthy rapping on some of the lyrics, was an instant success. Sales topped the 100 000 mark in just over a month, a feat which made ''Shibobo'' the fastest and biggest selling CD single ...
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South African Music
South Africa is well known for its distinct musical styles which have played a huge role towards the country's society. The music of South Africa is very diverse with a wide variety of genres such as Marabi, Kwaito, house music, Isicathamiya, Gqom, rock music, hip hop and Amapiano. With countless hits, such as Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, Pata Pata, Umqombothi (song), Vulindlela and legendary singers such as Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie, Hugh Masekela, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Lucky Dube, South African music has played a huge impact in Africa (especially in Southern Africa, such that countries such as Namibia and Botswana have their own versions of South African music genres such as Kwaito, etc.) Pre-20th-century history Early records of music in southern Africa indicate a fusion of cultural traditions: African, European and Asian. Modern country's early musician Enoch Sontonga wrote the Southern African national anthem ''Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika'' in 1897. By the end of the n ...
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Thandiswa Mazwai
Thandiswa Nyameka Mazwai (born 31 March 1976) is a South African musician, and is also the lead vocalist and songwriter of Bongo Maffin. She is also known as King Tha. Her debut album ''Zabalaza'' (2004), which attained double platinum status and her album also got nominated for Planet Awards on BBC Radio 3. Same year In 2004, she won Best Female Artist at Metro FM Awards. Her second album, titled "Ibokwe" was produced in 2009, was certified gold status within a few weeks after its release. Early life Thandiswa Mazwai was born in Eastern Cape in 1976 – the year of the Soweto Uprising – and grew up almost entirely in Soweto, Johannesburg, amidst the heavy apartheid township violence of the 1980s. Both her parents, Belede and Thami Mazwai, were journalists and anti-apartheid political activists, and she recollects that her home was filled with books, articles and thick with political discussions. It was this environment that nurtured her perspective as an artist. She wen ...
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Kaffir (ethnic Slur)
Kaffir (, Afrikaans: "kaffer") is an ethnic slur which is used in reference to black Africans in South Africa. Derived from the Arabic word ''Kafir'' meaning "nonbeliever", particularly of Islam. In the form of ''cafri'', it evolved from its religious origins during the pre-colonial period in Eastern and Southern Africa, where the term was adopted by colonists in reference to the monotheistic, non-Islamic Bantu peoples, and it was eventually used in reference to any black person during the Apartheid era. This designation came to be considered a pejorative by the mid-20th century, and today it is considered extremely offensive. In 2000, the South African parliament enacted the Promotion of Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, which has among its primary objectives the prevention of hate speech terms such as kaffir. When describing the term, the euphemism ''the K-word'' is now often used instead of kaffir. Etymology The term has its etymological roots in the Arabic word (A ...
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Isicamtho
Tsotsitaal is a vernacular derived from a variety of mixed languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province (such as Soweto), but also in other agglomerations all over South Africa. ''Tsotsi'' is a Sesotho, Pedi or Tswana slang word for a "thug" or "robber" or "criminal", possibly from the verb "ho lotsa" "to sharpen", whose meaning has been modified in modern times to include "to con"; or from the tsetse fly, as the language was first known as Flytaal, although ''flaai'' also means "cool" or "street smart". The word ''taal'' in Afrikaans means "language". A tsotsitaal is built over the grammar of one or several languages, in which terms from other languages or specific terms created by the community of speakers are added. It is a permanent work of language-mix, language-switch, and terms-coining. History The tsotsitaal phenomenon originates with one variety known as Flaaitaal or Flytaal, and then Tsotsitaal, which became popular under this latter name in the fr ...
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South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely Enclave and exclave, enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over Demographics of South Africa, 60 million people, the country is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and le ...
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Soweto
Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and one of the suburbs of Johannesburg. History George Harrison and George Walker are today credited as the men who discovered an outcrop of the Main Reef of gold on the farm Langlaagte in February 1886. The fledgling town of Johannesburg was laid out on a triangular wedge of "uitvalgrond" (area excluded when the farms were surveyed) named Randjeslaagte, situated between the farms Doornfontein to the east, Braamfontein to the west and Turffontein to the south. Within a decade of the discovery of gold in Johannesburg, 100,000 people flocked to this part of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek in search of riches. They were of many races and n ...
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Club Eden
{{more citations needed, date=November 2022 Club Eden was the first electronic dance music club in Africa. Located at 54 Waterkant street in Cape Town, South Africa. Eden opened 1990 on Friday 29 November and ran for only one successful season, introducing a new era in nightlife for South Africa. It was conceived and founded by the UFO collective and a group of private investors. Inspired by the Second Summer of Love and rise of acid house music in the United Kingdom, Eden played a role in the early social re-integration of Cape Town nightlife, laying foundations for a post-apartheid club generation. Eden's introduction of Techno into the South African music scene helped lay the foundations for what later became Kwaito Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of h ... and th ...
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