- Title: Amapiano stars put South African dance music on the map
- Date: 29th July 2022
- Summary: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 1, 2022) (REUTERS) WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY SPOKESPERSON JOHN KIRBY WALKING TO LECTERN AT BRIEFING WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY SPOKESPERSON JOHN KIRBY, SAYING: "I want to reaffirm that the Speaker has not confirmed any travel plans. And it is for the Speaker to do so, and her staff. So we won't
- Embargoed: 12th August 2022 09:59
- Keywords: Afrobeats Amapiano fans DBN Gogo Johannesburg's Soweto township Kamo Mphela South African musical export a billion streams on Spotify this month
- Location: JOHANNESBURG AND PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA / LONDON, ENGLAND
- City: JOHANNESBURG AND PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA / LONDON, ENGLAND
- Country: South Africa
- Topics: Africa,Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Music
- Reuters ID: LVA002498128072022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: South African musical export Amapiano has crossed borders and cultural barriers, reaching as far as Japan. To top female artists Kamo Mphela and DBN Gogo, who helped put the dance music genre on the map, it is about inclusivity.
Mphela, 22, from Johannesburg's Soweto township, took a leap of faith four years ago and jumped into the world of Amapiano. Now she is a household name in South Africa and tours the globe.
“Amapiano has changed my life in a sense, I never imagined myself being in certain positions, that I'm in today. Not because it wasn't my dream but I never thought it was possible, especially from being a girl who lived in a one-room in Soweto and now being on the biggest stages with bigger superstars,†Mphela said.
Amapiano has quickly built a following in countries like France, Morocco, and Japan and is set to hit a billion streams on Spotify this month, according to Phiona Okumu, the platform's head of music for Sub-Saharan Africa.
"In July we're about to hit a billion streams across the platform for Amapiano. Astronomical number and the way that we're tracking it again, in terms of the growth, is we're looking at; what do those streams look like outside of Africa? Where are the points of inflection? And we're seeing them quite concretely in places like, in Japan, in France, in Morocco," Okumu said.
DBN Gogo, 29, believes it is their responsibility to take Amapiano's beats to the rest of the world.
“We are always collaborating, we're not competing with one another because there's actually so much space and so much money and so much, you know, just knowledge to go around for everyone,†she said at her Johannesburg home while preparing for a gig in Amsterdam.
The two artists say Amapiano captures how they live their lives and reminds them of home. It fuses styles like house and jazz and is believed to have originated in the townships of Johannesburg.
Several Amapiano fans who attended a sold-out concert in Pretoria said their love for the genre was largely dictated by the fact that it is authentically South African.
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