Kwaito is eating fried
chicken directly off the bone with greasy fingers. It’s playing your radio loud
enough for your neighbors to hear it, even if they don’t want to. It’s about bringing a community together and
forcing them up and out of their chairs after gravity has had its way with them
for some time. It’s the sun on your back and stones in your shoes, but you’ll
be wearing your comfortable shoes because you know that if it’s Kwaito your
playing you’ll be dancing and swaying!
Kwaito was conceived in the
townships of Soweto, South Africa and entered the word in the early 90’s in the
CD casings of local DJs – playing to whoever would allow the music to riddle
their bodies. The genre of Kwaito has direct parallels to that of American Hip
Hop springboarding out of the ghetto with a limp in its step and its cap to the
side. Western house music started slowing down and added an African twist, catapulting Kwaito to a commercial market.
Although I have done spent more hours researching Kwaito than it took to build the pyramids, (yes, I have been known to exaggerate...slightly) I am not going to pretend that I'm some Kwaito connoisseur, but I do know someone who is! Our housekeeper - Zodwa! Zod's has been belting out Kwaito numbers since before I could belt out twinkle twinkle little star. So who better than to interview about this genre than one of its first fans? Zod's described the genre of Kwaito much better than any online definition I have come
across. “It’s like a chunky soup, it has Hip Hop, some R&B, dancehall &
a splash of disco." These influences are all blended into a unique style that
can only truly be appreciated by "tasting" it! I suggest you open wide and engulf the lot!
