South African Music

This Music called Kwaito (pronounced Kwhy-toe)

This music throbs out of the speakers like at any other dance
club in the world , but the rhythm is different , more African
somehow. Then the words come in ,singing ,no not English ,
but Xhosa , Zulu or Tswana . African languages. This is what's
hip for South African Youth , this is Kwaito.

Kwaito started in the early 90's.
Influenced by the international house acts of the UK
and the US , as well as by 80's South African disco ,
called "bubblegum" .The beat is a slowed down
house beat , and the vocals are spoken as well as sung , with
the choruses often being chanted ,depicting scenes from the
South African townships.

Kwaito producers have become the first black people
in South Africa to own their own record labels. During the apartheid
era , kwaito acts weren't signed by major labels. This turned out to be
a positive thing ,for these black producers went ahead and formed
their own record labels , which now are on the forefront of
the South African music scene.

Its not only black kids who listen to kwaito.
Mandoza , a kwaito artist from Jo'burg , has had large crossover
appeal with his track "Nkalakatha" , which has been played
extensively on national radio , often on stations which
have a traditionally white listenership.
It seems nobody can resist the infectious dance groove
of kwaito.