Music is spiritual, and that's especially true for Amapiano, a subgenre of House music brewed in the hoods of South Africa.
The sound is soulful, harmonious and jazzy with an energy that invites you to dance; and you will dance — it doesn’t matter if you possess the skilful smoothness of Michael Jackson or the rhythmic coordination of a goat in distress.
There's no unanimous agreement about Amapiano's true origins but the general landing spot is the cluster of historically racially-segregated townships in the province of Gauteng which translates to "place of gold".
What makes Amapiano irresistible?
"Amapiano at its core is stories — most of my songs are telling different stories," Lethabo 'Focalistic' Sebetso explains during a gathering of African content creators at Jack Budha in Mamelodi, Pretoria, one of the recognised birthplaces of Amapiano.
Focalistic is one of the most recognisable faces of the sound and is passionate about the experience he sells to the audience with every song.
He wasn't a big fan of the "Hollywood trap" dominating the local radio and television in South Africa, and Amapiano became his weapon to break that foreign stranglehold.
"It was an escape from the noise of Hip-Hop at the time and a way to stay closer to our roots. Amapiano felt like a canvas more familiar to our hearts," the 26-year-old notes.
Themba 'DJ Maphorisa' Sekowe is another one of the most influential leading lights of the Amapiano sound and he'll tell you two types exist: soulful dope music like love and spiritual songs, and one that's kind of dark and vibey.
"Amapiano beats mostly need to be kind of like a little bit low on the mix and the drum has to be inside the mix, not outside or over. We need a lot of room for the bass from the log drum to knock. If the beat is too loud, you won't feel the bass," he says during a studio session where he seamlessly creates a whole new beat from scratch, and drops vocals alongside Nigerian artist, Sadiq 'Wurld' Onifade.
What does Amapiano bring to the table?
What people experience when they listen to Amapiano is the heart and soul of South Africa. It's evident in how the people move to the sound whether in Tsweu Street in Mamelodi, or the upscale KONKA club in Soweto. The sound has created a huge platform for South African artists to tap into an energy they know to be fully theirs and say things in their own voices.
Sandile 'Young Stunna' Msimango had been a Hip-Hop artist for five years before his Damascus moment with Amapiano in 2018. He used to play free gigs and couldn’t afford internet data to even push his music online at the time. But Amapiano welcomed him with open arms and he's become one of the sound’s biggest stars since he dropped his first project in 2020.
Unlike his Hip-Hop stint which Young Stunna says naturally compelled him to be the embodiment of everything egotistical, Amapiano gives him room to tell the story of his roots in a manner he deems more authentic.
"Everything I've sung about and everything you hear in my music is a real thing. It's always been me thanking my ancestors," he says.
To make an Amapiano smash hit, Focalistic believes you need a great understanding of dance music, South African culture and how words intermingle to make a dance beat.
His words carry some weight because dance is an integral part of the Amapiano sound, and not many artists embody that marriage quite like Kamo Mphela. The accommodation of her most useful skills in this one sound is why she’s fully convinced Amapiano chose her.
"Dance and music are universal and both can't exist without each other. For me, it's just a thing of, 'I can do both, so I'll do them,'" she reports with glee minutes before she teaches the dance steps to her hit song, Hannah Montana, in a dance studio in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The gospel of Amapiano
Perhaps Amapiano's greatest appeal is that it’s unapologetic in its representation of everything South African. Most crucially, an overwhelming number of songs are in the local South African languages.
While many are eager to make the argument that this gives the sound an even more original cutting edge, artists like Mphela believe there may be room for a little compromise.
The 23-year-old is deeply invested in seeing Amapiano become a universal sound rivalling Hip-Hop and thinks scarce sprinklings of the English language in the vocals may do the trick. She suspects this is one of the important planks of why Nigeria’s Afrobeats is currently so influential in the global music ecosystem.
"Our reach needs to be better — just a bit of English. It's possible that people can still learn Zulu from Amapiano songs, but it just needs to be a little more," she says.
Focalistic isn't as welcoming of the idea and similarly looks to Afrobeats as a great example of how local the vocals should stay.
"Because we listen to Afrobeats, many South Africans now understand Pidgin. We're kind of selling culture, that's why I said we're diplomats in a sense. We're selling South Africa — the stories we have, the lingo we have. You say you don't understand our language but you're putting together like five words — you're gonna learn. It's a cultural exchange, 100%."
Amapiano to the world
Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa and the only one without an international border, but it's now exporting a sound that's currently impossible to resist.
The spiritual essence of Amapiano is why non-South Africans, like Nigeria's Wurld, who's working on an Amapiano-heavy dance album, are drawn to it.
"The sound is unique; and, for once, Africa has a certain sound close enough to House music but is still African. I feel like it's beautiful just that we have that ravey energy coming out of Africa," the Trobul and Ego star says.
Top Afrobeats stars in Nigeria like Ayodeji 'Wizkid' Balogun, Damini 'Burna Boy' Ogulu and David 'Davido' Adeleke have already worked with South African artists to create hit Amapiano projects.
Focalistic is convinced the global scene can't get enough of the sound because of the emotion it sells. Everything, he says, is carefully curated to relay that emotion. The Champion Sound star feels so strongly about Amapiano's authenticity enough to compare it as an export with the same level of appeal as Nelson Mandela.
The spread of the Amapiano sound excites South African stars because it puts food on their tables and gives their stories global acceptance.
"In Paris and London, they even sing the lyrics to you. I don't get it. It's crazy," Mphela notes with excitement.
This global explosion didn't happen by accident.
The distribution of Amapiano when it started out as an underground sound was gradually helped by pubs, clubs, messaging apps and radio, but its global rise is fueled by digital platforms like Spotify.
"From the beginning, we made sure to be really close to the culture, identifying the stars, making sure they're playlisted, that we have relationships with them and engage with the world," says Phiona Okumu who’s Spotify’s Head of Music in Sub-Saharan Africa. The executive is confident the accessibility streaming provides is an important component of why Amapiano is now blowing up in places like London, Toronto and New York.
The future of Amapiano
Unavoidably, the conversation about the staying power of Amapiano is already gathering steam. Will the world get bored of this infectious sound in two years or will it still be as relevant two decades from now?
Focalistic is certain it has a shelf life as powerful as any other genre in the world and "will always be there". But to make this confidence stand the test of time, Mphela is eager to see a more aggressive push of the sound just like Nigerian artists do with Afrobeats.
An even more pressing Amapiano conversation concerns the fate of the sound as it travels further and further away from its source. Will a time ever come when Amapiano becomes so huge that its South African roots are forgotten?
Focalistic is aware it’s impossible, and even counterproductive, to gatekeep the sound, but he knows something needs to be done to prevent historical erasure.
He notes carefully, "Gatekeeping isn't such a bad word anymore. For us, it's about how we gatekeep, especially the culture and history, so that as much as it goes around the world, people never forget who created Amapiano."
Young Stunna is similarly not as invested in gatekeeping the sound and believes strongly that any foreign experimentation of Amapiano will never be as pure as the South African original anyway. The Adiwele star is proud of Amapiano for having a lot of love to go around for everyone to be happy and enjoy the sound, and he intends for it to stay that way.
Okumu sums it up best when she says, "The way to keep the culture and music alive is to let people know, and bring friends into your home."
That's the spirit of Amapiano and why it's winning converts in all the spaces it penetrates, one dance beat at a time. Music is energy, and Amapiano is the world’s latest frequency.