Wings' Lesson On Kwaito
Kwaito: It's History And Where It's At Now.
There's no way anyone in South Africa could ignore Kwaito's local-flavoured lyrics and irresistible dance beats pumping out of minibus taxis, clubs, radios, bashes, shebeens and parties all over the place. With local languages and street slang used in lyrics reflecting life in South Africa, and a distinctly South African-style of dancing, dressing and performing, Kwaito is the sound that defines South Africa's black youth.
What is Kwaito?
Kwaito is now South Africa's pop music, but where did it start? How would you explain the kwaito sound to someone who'd never heard it? A good place to start would be to say that it's a mixture of all that 90s South African youth grew up on: South African disco music, Hip - Hop, R&B, Ragga, and a heavy, heavy dose of American and British house music.
Mix all of that up, give it lots of local spice and attitude and you've got Kwaito. Mostly, not always, but mostly, the lyrics are chanted, not sung over a slowed-down bass heavy, electronically programmed housey beat. Turn it up loud and get ready to party - cause there's no way you're not going to want to dance.
Way before the popularity white kids got into raves and dance music, young black South Africans in the late 80's were already completely infatuated with the imported house grooves of British and American DJs and producers. Vinyl-filling local DJs record collections would include names like Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, Mr Fingers, JM Silk, Lil' Luis Vega and Masters at Work.
Back In The Day
Remember the early 90s when the places to be were Pretoria's Gemini and Hillbrow's Razzmatazz? At that time the pioneering DJs getting the crowds going with slowed-down house tracks were people like Christos Katsaitis and Oscar "Warona" Mdlongwa. Other major players in the genre were (and are) Mdu Masilela, Arthur Mafokate and Joe Nina. Soon they all began making their own version of house music.
Oscar remembers that in the beginning "we started remixing those international house tracks to give them a local feeling, we added a bit of piano, slowing the tempo down and putting in percussion and African melodies but maintaining the house groove".
Local influences naturally inspired Kwaito's beginnings, too: Mdu points out that before kwaito became the in-thing, what people partied to was South African "Bubblegum" disco music from the likes of Brenda Fassie, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Chicco Twala. "People were into US and UK House, so I mixed the House and Bubblegum and I came up with Kwaito.
"Lyrically we were inspired by people like Brenda, Senyaka, Danny Kamazu and Chicco," adds Arthur. "They were representing us and talking about what was happening in the ghettos, and they spoke in a mixture of English, Zulu, Sesotho and Iscamtho (slang)"
Ghetto Dance Music: Naming and Claiming
Today, different labels and groups call their music different names. Triple 9 calls it Kwaito, Kalawa and Skeem call their music D'Gong, TKZee say they make Guz, Joe Nina terms his Disco-Fusion. But the name that's stuck is Kwaito.
Arthur says people named the music after AmaKwaitos, a group of gangsters. Describing Kwaito, he points out its township roots: "It's all about ghetto music. For me, it's ghetto dance music."
"When house music got popular, people from the ghetto called it Kwaito after the Afrikaans slang word kwai, meaning those house tracks were hot, that they were kicking," says Mdu who calls his music "local house music." Oscar remembers, "when I was DJing, the music that people felt was outstanding they called Kwaito, cause it was slammin'."
Black Power
Aside from becoming a music movement that South African youth could call their own, another positive spin-off was that, after Apartheid-era record labels being owned by white people, after majors wouldn't sign them, Kwaito producers did their own thing and became the first black guys to own labels.
Oscar, Don Laka, the members of Trompies and Bruce Sibitlo are at the top of Kalawa Jazzmee, Arthur is the head of Triple 9 Records, Mdu has MDU Music and Christos' has Wicked Sounds. Along with Ghetto Ruff these are the most popular independent labels with the biggest acts. But major labels like Sony, BMG and EMI distribute these labels, and they also have their own rosters of Kwaito acts.The genre is a major money-spinner - Arthur, Mdu and Mawillies have sold over 100 000 CDs (in SA 25 000 equals Gold status) with some of their albums.
Problems
But despite all the positives, there are some negatives too: labels are not committed to improving the scene, judging by the kind of measly time, effort and funds put into Kwaito production and the poor marketing, advertising and promotion of their acts.
Too often it all comes down to money: to make a quick buck, people latch onto a popular and quick selling formula. There's no kwaito underground, so there's no breeding place for fresh and innovative ideas - it's always the same producers making songs year after year. No wonder the music sometimes sounds like it's in a creative rut.
There's a thin line between being inspired by something and straight biting. Sure, Kwaito was inspired by international House music, but that's no excuse for chopping an American or European house track and laying some local vocals on top of it. There's evidently a problem judgeing by the fact that so many artists and producers have accused each other of copycatting.
Also, in terms of creativity, there are too many things passing as albums when they're glorified singles. Too many albums are one hit wonders whose flavour fades as fast as Chappies bubblegum. Over-reliance on DAT (Digital Audio Tapes) result in kwaito acts doing the same old tired kwaito show week after week. Too often, not enough time and effort is put into live performance. A lot of us are waiting for someone somewhere to add something new to Kwaito, to take it to a higher level - creatively, lyrically and production-wise.
And though it's great there are black labels, it's not cool to know that the same kind of exploitation which majors have become famous for, is also happening at the new independent Kwaito-producing labels too. The scene is still incredibly young, and so are the artists who come in completely ill - equipped for the legal and business side of the game.
There have been people who say the music should have more lyrical content and certain performers have been slated for vulgar and sexist lyrics. The skimpy outfits and sexy Butterfly, Kwasa Kwasa style dances of groups like Boom Shaka and Abashante have been too much for some older people to bear.
The Sound of South Africa's Streets
But then again, youth culture anywhere in the world is always accused of similar things and Kwaito artists point out that, just like in any genre, Kwaito has great songs, artists and producers - and others who are bad. Most importantly, so many people believe Kwaito in South Africa fulfills the same role that hip-hop does in black America, that it's our own authentic street sound. TKZee's Tokollo makes a comparison to rap's early days: "Parents never liked it either. They said it was full of swearing, but the youth loved it. Now Kwaito is like that, but it's South African."
People have been saying Kwaito's a passing fad since the early 90s, but as we approach the millennium, it's still the music that best represents young black South Africa. Kwaito fans, producers and artists say that the music will change over time, but insist that as long as people want to party the music will be around. And, come December 31, 1999, you know what sound will be rocking South African New Year
