his big white self/kwaito

stelfox

Beast of Burden
ok, so on the face of it this should be in the film section, but i watched it last night - pretty average nick broomfield stuff for the most part, but quite interesting in its own way as it did examine the effects of the dissolution of apartheid on the former ruling white right wing pretty well, albeit from a very personal perspective. the main reason for talking about it here, though, is that it features an absolutely terrific kwaito soundtrack, with tracks by zola, mandoza, brenda fassie, miriam makeba and a ton of others. i've got a few bits - a couple of albums and sundry downloaded tracks but i'd like to get hold of a lot more and learn a bit about this stuff because my background knowledge is pretty shaky. let's talk kwaito...
 
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big satan

HA-DO-KEN!
i got turned on to Earth by watching hornby's "kurt & courtney" documentary, it makes me keen to see what this kwaito stuff is like. was the film on tv or in the cinema?
 

Eric

Mr Moraigero
Do an article Stelfox!!! (and post it please ...) I also wish I knew much more about this music. There are a couple good compilations around obtainable without ordering from SA, which I havent bothered with yet (though I really want to hear the new Zola record). Best to my taste is 'tales of urban s.a.' which has got lots of play in mi casa over the past year or so.

Anyway here's an old thread.

http://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?t=361
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Kwaito

You might wannaa check out a film called Tsotsi ( township slang for gangster ) coming out soon. Older kwaito stuff is better - Doc Shebeleza, Mandoza - but check out some African hiphop as well, Pitch Black Afro, and my favourite, a guy called Tha Hymphatic Thabs, he rocks.
Kwaito is basically the SA version of screw music, they all smoke dagga ( strong weed ) and do Madrax, a heavy downer, so it made sense to slow down house music and then chant over the top. Hiphop heads in SA hate it though.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
now i'd thought about that, re the screw comparison. that's actually really interesting. i'm far less interested in the SA hip-hop side of things from what i've heard but i guess i just need better tips, so thanks!
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Senyaka rocks as well, early kwaito. Alot of it is WELL hard to find, if you have problems with the Hymphatic Thabs stuff contact me and I can get you a copy, we highlighted him and the SA music scene on the show I do for resonancefm.com, Horse Hospital Radio, a while back. The soundtrack for Tsotsi is going to be different from the film - there are extra tracks added that didn't make the film.
Happy hunting!
 

Oh Lawdy

New member
Mmm... kwaito.

Kwaito's what happened when Johannesburg DJs began to slow down house records from the UK, which made the jam more 'kwaai': 'cool' (although the word actually means 'wicked' as in 'bad'. Or 'sick'.)

Add that skipping snare on the offbeat, a superfat digital bassline playing those wicked South African changes you hear everywhere from South African gospel to the Mahotella Queens to Abdullah Ibrahim and you're somewhere like a high-tech version of doped mbaquanga, or other urban township music played with 'real' instruments. You're nearly kwaito-ised.

Now all you need is someone chatting or singing in Isicamtho, a slang made up from Zulu, Afrikaans, English, Xhosa and seTswana, the kind of language you get in a country with 12 official languages and big cities.

Help yourself to the choir, if you're Brenda Fassie. Speak English in a crap American accent if you like. Oh, and make the best urban music in Africa. Bar non.

Kwaito ROCKS. Check the last Kabelo album 'The Bouga Album' and tell me that's not the most uplifting, positive noise you've heard in ages.
 
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mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
That's interesting. I didn't get into the Kabelo CD first coupla listens, I'll go back and give it another go on yr recommendation. I liked TKZee though, however pop they were.
Tsotsi won Best Oscar last night so hopefully that'll give kwaito a bit more exposure and get the guys some more money. My favourite kwaito track has to be Bowungakanani by Msawawa, the 'yesyesyesyes!' song. The production! I've always been a sucker for Michael Jackson, and I've been party to a whole roomful of goths turn and beam at me when I put this on, going 'what the FUCK is this' and proceeding to dance like fools. Kwaito - makes even goths dance.
 

Eric

Mr Moraigero
That is indeed a great song.

Has anyone heard the new Zola album (Izintho?)?

How about top 5-10, say, recommendations esp. for older kwaito? people have been talking up Senyaka & Shebeleza. albums? I'm also thinking about picking up some older Mshoza, anyone heard this stuff much?
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I'd recommend these ones -

Doc Shebelza - Ingagara
Senyaka - O Shwa Jwang O Nkolota ( this one! this one! it rocks the Jackson's Can You Feel It bassline, and the video featured a procession carrying a child's coffin, just amazing )
Zola - Mdlwembe
Mapaputsi - Izinja
Mandoza - Nkalakatha

but man, I'm kinda 4 years knwoing about this stuff and still learning. I really would recommend
Perfect Times by Tha Hymphatic Thabs
( not kwaito, it's veeeeeeery abstract hiphop, he comes out of the spoken word scene, and is originally from Lesotho )
as well if you can find it, he's one of a kind.
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
the last track is our mash-up of Whitehouse's 'Just Like a Cunt' with a Zola track. When we did the show I had loads of people from SA listening, but funny enough I never got any comments about that...
 
new

Kwaito is something I've read about but never heard...
Does anyone know a website where you can hear 30 second snippets of tracks or something, like most online record shops (but I can't find any with kwaito)
I just want to know what it IS.

thanks
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Hi Edward,

If you goto page one of this thread there's a link to download a Kwaito radio show so you can get an idea! Sterns website is good but there's alot of stuff to plough through...
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Zola live

Inadvertently ended up seeing Zola live in London tonight
http://www.zola7.co.za/eventdetail.asp?EventID=30
the PA was magnificent but he, DJ Cleo and his dancers only managed three songs before it cut out, shame cos the sound was good. I screamed like a girl and by the third song he had half of a very well to do audience dancing, I pogoed. Kwaito live = top pogo music!
If anyone knows any promoters, get the man back over, he can rock a crowd like I never seen. DJ Cleo's set killed it as well, I'd love to see him do five hours at The End
 

Eric

Mr Moraigero
Zola live sounds nice. I'm jealous .... Hope someone comes to Japan.

You can get clips from the one world site (maybe oneworld.co.za ???)
 
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