Simply for the love of Kwaito Music    

Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music featuring the use of African sounds and samples. Typically at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music, Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep bass lines, and vocals. Although bearing similarities to hip hop music, a distinctive feature of Kwaito is the manner in which the lyrics are sung, rapped and shouted. It is most popular among the black youth of South Africa.

Kwaito took shape in the township Soweto at the same time Nelson Mandela took office. One of the first Kwaito singles to become a hit in South Africa was the song "Kaffir" by artist Arthur Mafokate, which illustrated the freedom of expression resulting from political liberation in South Africa. Arthur Mafokate, Makhendlas (Arthur's brother), Oskido, Boom Shaka, and Mdu Masilela were the first artists to produce a huge kwaito hit and popularize it in and outside of the Black townships.

The kwaito industry is growing fast and it is becoming increasingly competitive. Popular artists include Zola, Mandoza, Mzekezeke, Brown Dash, Spikiri, Mzambiya, and the late African pop and kwaito star Brenda Fassie to mention a few. The kwaito stars in South Africa are seen as celebrities who influence the culture, language, and economy of the nation in ways that is entertaining the listeners while listening.

Kwaito is been criticized in that it is labeled as the African version of hip hop or an imitator. As it emerged it was meant for the black South African youth but it managed to secure its name in the South African music industry and International front. It is known for being sang in African languages and that shouldn’t change. People in other races can take this opportunity to learn African languages through kwaito music.  

 

Music videos play an important role in album sales



MTV logo by Justice Songs



Music videos represent a very important part of the music industry. There are even artists that owe their careers to their music videos. Music videos have become a venue where a musician is given a chance to impress the public not just with their singing but also with their looks or moves. There are people who become an instant fan because of the music videos they see on TV.

Music video aims to deliver the song or give meaning to the song. People can easily relate to the song once they see and know the intention of it. It can help listeners relate to the song and somehow feel that the song was written for them. But some people feel that music videos have disadvantages because now people focus on the looks and ignore the singing talent the singer has to offer. This goes to show that sex sells and they are making a huge profit by portraying it. Musicians become more appreciated if they have good looks and the sex appeal.

Looking on the brighter side though, music videos have already proven how essential it is to an artist success. Music videos are now considered as important as the song itself. There are artists and songs that have become so popular and well known because of their music videos. Mostly listeners get to know the artist through the use of videos and this help boost the album sales of the artist. The creation of DVDs and video tapes has also helped the artist generate more income because their live performances are been recorded and sold as well.

Record companies should make it a priority to create a budget for their artists’ music videos in order to be successful in generating more album sales.

IDOLS SA SEASON8

South Africa’s biggest reality competition, Idols, is back again. For over a decade, the South African version of Idols has been one of the country’s biggest shows, always full of curiousity, scandal and above all, singing. The show's speciality is forging superstars from raw talent and it has consistently launched the contestants to the top of the pop charts.

IdolsSA season promises todeliver yet another amazing show.

Season 8 Idols promises to deliver excitement and an interesting journey for both the audience and the contestants. Thousands of hopefuls auditioned in the hope of being crowned SA’s newest singing sensation. The numbers were reduced down to 89, then 50, then 34 and currently standing at the Top 10.

This season’s judges are Randall Abrahams, Unathi Msengana and Gareth Cliff who are searching for sensational talent and shatter misguided music superstar dreams. Unathi Msengana, the host of the breakfast show on Metro FM is an established recording artist, songwriter and African Renaissance woman. Gareth Cliff joined Idols in Season 2 and has general knowledge regarding the music entertainment. Randall Abrahams is the judge that everyone loves to hate, as well as the judge everyone wants to impress.

The Top 10 Spectacular phase is currently underway and kicked off to a fantastic start. We cannot wait for more and more singing from the Contestants. The first round of performances impressed everyone. The theme was "Old School / New School" and we loved the fresh spin put on to classical songs.

We are waiting with curiosity and anticipation to know those who will make it through to the Top 9. Your votes will decide. Keep voting for your favorite contestant to help grow the South African music industry.

For those who don’t know, you can catch IdolsSA season 8 on M-Net and Mzansi Magic.

 How listeners misinterpreted the Concept YOLO

YOLO is an acronym that stands for: "you only live once." The phrase is used a motto to convey that one should take risks and live life to the fullest because you probably won't get another chance to do it.

Although the complete, shortened phrase has been used casually for years, the shortened acronym was picked up soon after Canadian music artist Drake featured it in his hip hop single entitled "The Motto." On October 23rd of 2011 and according to Know Your Meme, Drake sent out a tweet with the acronym YOLO in it. The following day the acronym had caught on quite drastically across the web. The day after Drake's YOLO tweet, Twitter analytic site Trendistic reported increased activity of tweets that had included YOLO as a keyword.

Twitter users now commonly use hash tag #YOLO to tweet about their once-in-a-lifetime choices and experiences. Some people are serious about it and others use it as a joke. It would really be nice to take life as it came at you by taking the right decisions but instead people tend to make those wrongful decisions because they only live once. It is quite sad to witness people being manipulated to act irresponsibly because of a phrase. What’s more troubling as that it was reported that Drake stated that his audience took the concept in a wrong way because he never thought people will do wrongful behavior  just to justify themselves with the phrase.

Such behavior is the results that parents come to the conclusion that music influence the listeners in a bad way. YOLO should not act as a catalyst to poor decision making. The concept of Yolo isn’t to go smoke and drink, and make yourself a bad person by being mischievous. It is to go out and do something with your life that matters; after all you only live once.

Stop Blaming Musicians For Negative Human Behavior

Entertainment is bought to our attention through different platforms, among its creators we find musicians. Musicians rap or sing about their life experiences with the aim to entertain. As an individual who listen to this music you have a choice to decide on how to react to what their saying. You may choose to live your life according to the musicians behaviour and what he/she says or just listen to the musician but not act like him or her. 

So often you find people blaming musicians that they are responsible for the behaviour of people, in that they influence them to act in a bad manner. The musicians are not to be blamed, but instead the listeners who allow the musicians to influence them. If the blame is really on the musician then people should be fair and acknowledge the good ideas highlighted by some artists, because they don’t sing about the same perspectives regarding their experiences, so it is likely that some do promote positive attitude. A good example is the campaign “SHOUT for a safer South Africa” initiated by Kabelo Mabalane and Danny K.

I admit, we see musicians as our role models but let’s not forget that at the end of our listening session of a particular song, you are an individual who is capable of making his/her choices. The musicians job is to entertain and make a living from entertaining us. Lets stop being judgemental and stand proud for our musicians.

STOP MUSIC PIRACY

South Africa’s diverse and dynamic Music Industry is one of the richest and most important resources, with the capacity to generate significant economic and social benefits for the nation. Equally important, but less well understood, is the potential for a vibrant and dynamic arts and culture sector to contribute significantly to the economy of the country.

There has been an out-cry by South African musicians complaining about piracy and the lack of coordinated strategy for the development of the industry. Piracy result to limited finances available for investment in the development and promotion of South African artists. Yet we don’t mind buying an original album of an international artist which costs more compared to that of a South African artist.

Millions of listeners prefer to listen to International music; my guess is the South African music industry won’t contribute more in the economy because of the number of sales by our musicians. This will also result in lack of development of the industry compared to that of the International front. There are few South African industries better placed to take advantage of the global shifts towards knowledge-based  and export-oriented growth. 

 Some listeners mentioned that the South African musicians lack drive and not ambitious to entertain us. You find one track in the whole album interesting among the rest. So this will obviously result to copying that single track on a written disc. My advice firstly goes to the South African artists to up their game and be determined in doing their job well. They shouldn’t entertain just for the money but remember they are doing this for the listeners as well, that’s why they get paid after all. Secondly, to the listeners, they should have faith in their musicians and give advice if necessary. Let’s all be Proudly South Africans and support our musicians and stop Piracy.

Star Attraction ripped off

TS Record Should Credit Zahara For Her Hard Work

The seven times SA Music Awards (Samas) nominee, Zahara, is contracted to TS Records, co-owned by Thembikosi "TK" Nciza and Sibusiso Leope, aka DJ Sbu.
According to Nomonde and Mbangedwa Mtukukana, Zahara's siblings, it is claimed that Sbuda Leope and TK Nciza have failed to deliver the promises they made to Zahara and her family. Zahara have sold more than 50000 units but doesn't have her own place, instead she resides at the Nciza's apartment where she is expected to do household chores.

TK Nciza promised to buy Zahara a house in Joburg, buy Zahara's parents a farm in the Eastern Cape and also buy two cars for Zahara - one to use in Joburg and the other in Eastern Cape. None of these promises were delivered instead the was a situation were she (Zahara) had to ask her mother money to buy airtime. This clearly shows that she is not in control of her finances. The TS Record management are taking advantage of the illiterate artist who may not understand how the music industry operates. They should acknowledge and be grateful of the success Zahara is bringing into company and reward her for her hard-work.

This is not the first allegations about TS Record ripping off their artist, Brown dash and Bricks also complained. This goes to show that TS Record management don't appreciate the talent of their artists and they don't value their hard-work. They bring a bad name in the music industry and as time goes by artists wont make deals with such record labels.