Kwaito gets Cuffed!

Please forgive me for this next pun, but I just can’t help myself….’It’s time for our very own Durban Kwaito star, Professor Langa to face the music!’ It appears as though Mkhonzeni Langa (who goes by the stage name Professor Langa) committed more than a crime of fashion last week when he showed up at the Metro FM Music Awards dressed as a metro police officer! The NPA – National Prosecuting Authority, for those of you who watch shows like 90210, has issued a summons for the star to appear in Durban Magistrate’s Court on the 17^th of May. So what’s the worst that could happen? Well quite a lot it seems, he is facing charges of impersonating a police officer, possession of a police uniform and wearing a police uniform without permission. You see by law, only SAPS – South African Police Service, that’s incase you watch Jersey Shore, and metro police officers can use a police uniform and badge. If anyone else is adorned in blue, special permission from the national police commissioner is needed. Without this permission Professor Langa could be facing up to 6 months imprisonment!

If we take the ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ approcach’, this could be prime material for a hit song. Maybe ‘I ain’t scared of no popo?’ 

How do you know if Kwaito is for you?

If you have never opened the door to Kwaito, maybe it’s time you consider opening a window? I’m not asking you to erect a Brenda Fussy shrine in your bedroom but I am asking you to extend your musical vocabulary, broaden your palate, break out of your comfort zone and face the unknown! Ladies and gentlemen just give it a chance…

So how do you know if you are even going to enjoy this ‘Kwaito’? If you would rather swallow a battery than go to a family reunion then Kwaito is probably not for you. If you are a ‘social sitter’ – meaning that you may extend a hello, but never your legs at a party then Kwaito is less likely to be on your iPod. If the thought of choreographed steps makes you sweat then maybe give Kwaito a miss? However, if you live for Friday afternoons, where you consider your weekend starting after your first coffee break, if you are the kind of person who would rather cast a line then meet a deadline and if you feel as though music moves you, not emotionally but physically moves you as though you’re a garden gnome being shuffled around the garden by an elderly women with OCD then Kwaito is for you!

The White Wolf - Kwaito

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! 

Some Hardcore Punk coming your way!

The Sex Pistols - it just doesn't get more 'punchier' guys, soak it up!

A taste of Kwaito - See what I've been talking about!

The King of Kwaito - Arthur Mafokate with one of his most controversial songs!

Cut from the same cloth

Are Kwaito music and Hardcore Punk really polar opposites? Or are they just magnets of the same pole forcing each other to repel? Think about it...take Kwaito for instance. Kwaito rose from the ashes of social change. It was the voice of a post-apartheid generation. A generation that influenced culture, fashion, speech and South African attitudes in a way that the West would never understand! Kwaito lyrics are hard-hitting and often rock the boat, in fact they tip the boat and slash the life jackets! These artists deal with social and political issues that are decaying our society. Seeing any similarities between Kwaito and Hardcore Punk yet? Okay, let’s continue. Kwaito is a form of escape for many. ‘A cupboard to Narnia’ if you will, where expression is the word of the day and freedom of speech comes with the territory. The style is defined by its drum and bass beat as well as the spoken, almost ‘shouted’ vocal melodies, generally sung in one of the native African languages. In many ways it’s our cultural counterpart to the generations of screaming parents echoing, “Turn that rubbish down!” Finally, to tie up the common thread running through the two genre's of Kwaito and Hardcore Punk, 'kwaai' in afrikaans directly translated means angry! You must see that these genres are branches of the same tree? Can you see the leaves that they share at least?