South Africa has now officially earned its place on the map as the home of a new music cult, a new music scene that has actually crossed the borders beyond its own and far into the west. 

Amapiano is a relatively new genre of South African music and is one that has taken the country by storm. Originally, when the genre started gaining popularity in 2017, it was more widely known for its relatively long piano synths that seemed to go on forever. However, more recently, the sound now appears to be more widely recognised and appreciated for its meaningful yet subtle lyrics and vocals, that take the listener on a musical journey. 

It is widely recognised that this genre's roots come from that of Afro House, but just heavily slowed down with a lot of emotion poured into it.  

Big hits like 'Jerusalema' have only hastened and catapulted the growth of Ama with hundreds of millions of views of platforms such as Spotify and TikTok. This music is now being played in nightclubs across the world, such as those in London and New York.The popularity of the sound has even allowed it to be fused with other musical genres such as Pop, House Music and even Reggae. One of our very own favourites has even added the sound to some of his songs. 

According to the well known artist DJ Moma, South Africa’s distinct house music derives from New York’s soulful house movement. “It’s almost sacrilege to say, but they basically took all the elements of New York house — jazzy chord progressions, Afro percussion, soulful vocals — and they just made it better. Especially on the drum programming, because it just has that African sound.” “The one thing that had made it specifically South African was the melancholy,” explains Moma. “These are people that have been through stuff that no one can understand.”

This is certainly true. May it keep getting bigger and bigger. We certainly enjoy listening to it here.