Kwaito music

Kwaito

Really one of my favorite song ever!






Maybe it's only an idea...I discovered this type of music when I was in Kenya, some guys from Njiru introduced me this sound. It's very nice to see how the music is important for the african people, especially the music wich you can dance, move the body is very very important. Many of they don't have nothing and the life is very hard, but no one forget the important of the music and of the dance, because it's a strong part of their culture.
In Kenya don't exist a real Kwaito culture, first because it come from South Africa and they speak in another language (SA Zulu, Kenya Swhaili), but they made me listen a similar type of music, and when I went back to home I started a research about that and I found the Kwaito music. I had already heard the name of Zola, but I never listened his music with a great attention.
The beat is very special, a crazy combination of traditional african music with house and hip hop with a great dose of tamarragine that create a wonderfull sound.
A strange thing (but maybe not so strange) is that , the people that started to play Kwaito really didn't knew nothing about hip hop and rap culture of the '80 from NY or LA, but the goal was quite the same.
Maybe it's only my idea, as I told, but for me exist a chain, from Kwaito's way of dance to the Krump dance.
I saw the Rize documentary when it went out in 2005 and also inside this they speak about this ancient aspect that the Krump dance have, the way of move the body without control, where you can see only the power that with the help of the music come from inside. The rage, the power, the desire to rebel.
Ok, the Krumpers are very hard and incredibly fast and sometimes they look more like fighters, I know that it's difficult to compare with the Kwaito's dancers. Also the music, of course, is completely different, I know I know.
Anyway, the Krump remind me the Kwaito and back again, I see something ancestral thing that links these two type of subculture, that come from two complete different places and cultures, but having in their roots a strange common line for me....
If you want you can make a comparison by yourself.




Krumping