Amsterdam Dance Event 2024 showcased Afrohouse in all its forms, evidencing the genre’s exponentially expanding influence and appeal. Once an underground movement known for its deep, soulful grooves, it's no secret that Afro House is surging into dance music's mainstream. And the 2024 Amsterdam Dance Event left no doubt about its broadening global reach. This year's [...]
Amapiano has taken over the world, but despite its success, some of the genre's most influential creators are not getting the rewards they deserve. In the final instalment of our three-part series documenting Amapiano's Second Wave, Jake Colvin explores how South Africa's economic conditions and exploitation from established stars are adversely affecting young producers [...]
East Africa’s first music technology summit, Kilele, brought together artists and industry figures from Kenya and across Africa and Europe for a series of boundary-pushing performances, discussions and collaborations. Martin Guttridge-Hewitt reports on how the event and a bubbling local underground are ushering in a new era for Nairobi’s electronic music scene Exiting your car [...]
Pioneered by Thakzin and co-signed by Kaytranada, this twist on Afro house combines elements of amapiano, Afro tech and broken beat. Shiba Melissa Mazaza charts the genre's rise. It was a sweltering December evening in Johannesburg and I was perched onstage behind a speaker, only arm's length from the decks. All around me, a [...]
The hotly-tipped Brazilian DJ/producer and label head gives us the low down on his invigorating Afro House tribute to Brazil's indigenous peoples. Hey Maz, congratulations on your Beatport #1! Have you had a chance to celebrate? Hey Beatport fam, thank you so much! I want to thank you all for the support on the track; [...]
South Africa's love for house music flourished in the early ’90s as the Apartheid era ended, pushed primarily by DJs in and around Johannesburg and Pretoria. Now, it's a focal point, filled with local styles and stars. Martin Guttridge-Hewitt heads to Gauteng to learn the story of the scene’s origins, and the risks its pioneers [...]
AfroTech is a prominent dance music style in clubs around the world — but in its country of origin the genre's future hangs in the balance. Setumo-Thebe Mohlomi reports on the need to support creativity and spirituality within South Africa's scene Waving hands reach for the sky, or something beyond it; some with flat palms [...]
In South Africa's burgeoning ballroom scene, pioneering figures and DJs are finding their own ‘Ha’ in the country's past, and in the contemporary sounds of gqom, amapiano, and Afrobeats. Tazmé Pillay learns more “DJ, cut the beat.” The room falls silent — an unforgivable sin anywhere else, but this is no nightclub. This is a [...]
The musical artist Musa Keys performing at the Afro Nation festival in Miami, in May.Photograph by Chris Allmeid / Courtesy Afro Nation A new form of South African dance music is thriving. A pair of twin brothers, known as Major League Djz, want the rest of the world to pay attention. It was [...]
It will be a hot summer for the Neapolitan DJ. And infinitely interesting when it flows into a hot autumn Mimmo Falcone is MoBlack , someone who immediately believed in afro house so much that he became its disciple. He left from Sant'Antonio Abate, a town half an hour's journey from the city of Naples, with the intention [...]
