Afro house

The tradition & historical record

Afro house (also known as Afro-house or Afrohouse) is a sub-genre of house music mainly developed in South Africa. The genre emerged in the 1990s. This musical style fuses elements of traditional house with South African rhythms and sounds, incorporating instruments such as the saxophone, piano and synthesizers, as well as vocals in various African languages. ¹

Afro house may have emerged after or at the same time as Kwaito started to appear in South Africa. The music genre is principally a blend of traditional house, kwaito, mbaqanga, deep house, tribal house, and soulful house. It can feature the various South African languages within the music. The BPM commonly shifts between 80 and 122 and, in some instances, can even reach 160 BPM. The etymology of the name uses the prefix 'afro' (meaning anything relating to Africa and African culture) and the suffix, 'house', referring to the main genre of house music. ¹

South African record label Afrotainment (Ezase Afro) housed one of the first notable female Afro house artists, DJ Cndo, in the early 2000s. Her 2007 debut album, Finest Lady of House Vol.1, obtained gold record status. Vocalist Bucie is regarded as "the female voice of South African house music", including Afro house, particularly with regard her Afro house hit single "Superman" which was produced by Black Coffee in 2009 and was later sampled by Drake in 2017 for his More Life album featuring Jorja Smith. British singer Seal has stated that he likes her music and mentioned that Bucie is "a great singer and artist". In 2012, DJ Zinhle, who released the hit song "My Name Is" featuring Busiswa, co-founded Fuse Academy, a DJ academy specifically for female DJs, together with Nomdeni Mdaki. In 2016, singer Alicia Keys enlisted Black Coffee to create a remix of her track "In Common", which was recognized and well received internationally. Zimbabwean singer and songwriter Jackie Queens launched her record label Bae Electronica, which solely showcases female house artists such as Thandi Draai, who has been "heralded as SA house music's femmetastic triple-threat" according to Mixmag. ¹

Ostensibly before it was 'officially' named and categorized as a sub-genre, it was just referred to as simply, "house". The genre appeared to have been, in some cases unintentionally labeled and mistaken as UK funky or afrobeats. Foreseeably, many former kwaito and kwaito-correlating artists for instance Oskido, DJ Tira, Mafikizolo, Black Coffee, DJ Cleo, Thandiswa Mazwai, Big Nuz and Mahoota (member of Trompies) have been ceaselessly associated with the genre for decades. Other ceasless artists include Osunlade, Louie Vega, Pablo Fierro, Darque, Am Roots, Djeff Afrozila, Jazzuelle, Hyenah, Rancido, Floyd Lavine, Boddhi Satva and Keinemusik Crue(Kloud). It was broadly internationally spearheaded by Malaika, Black Coffee, DJ TekniQ DJ Fresh, DJ Tira, Zakes Bantwini, DJ Cndo, Da Capo, Bucie, Culoe De Song, Shimza, Punk Mbedzi, Enoo Napa and Black Motion. ¹

The genre is thought to have possibly been, in effect created in the late 1980s due to the hitherto heavy, presence of kwaito, mbaqanga and house both locally as well as internationally. This time period was unfortunately during the apartheid regime whereas information would evidently have not been easy to record nor share. Kwaito-associated acts such as Brenda Fassie and Sipho Mabuse were high-charting artists on global charts such as on KISS-FM and Capitol Radio during the 1980s and 1990s.This would outwardly be the world's first introduction to "South African house music". Artists such as Vinny Da Vinci, DJ Christos and Revolution twins were hosting parties and DJing in various locations. ¹

I was working in townships before [Apartheid ended], and I'd get a lot of shit if I was caught. I mean, even name-wise I was never Christos. I changed my name like five times to avoid the cops. ¹

During this period the genre's universality in various locations such as the United States was set in stone. American artists such as Grammy-award-winning, Louie Vega had been regularly frequenting South Africa during this time. There is also evidence of the genre having been popularized in Angola due to the local dance culture. This is partially attributed to the musical genre kuduro. In 1994, the South African record label House Afrika was established. The label was founded by Vinny Da Vinci (Vincent Motshegoa), Tim White and DJ Strat3gy(Glen van Loggerenberg). The label's debut album release was titled Fresh House Flava Vol.1 by DJ Fresh. ¹

Some had friends at airlines and would ask them to bring tracks back in their luggage. Others would pay people to be couriers and get tunes into the country. Whether you call this bootlegging, or contraband, you made the most of any way you could get at the music.In the 1990s, house music gained significance during this time in urban centers like Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban, but it is Soweto where the music genre Kwaito emerged. Kwaito slowed down the tempo from Chicago house music and infused it with elements of reggae, hip-hop, and local vernacular that reflected the feelings of urban/township South African youth. Artists like DJ Oskido exemplified the genre, along with artists and musical groups like Boom Shaka, Mandla Mofokeng, and Bongo Maffin. At the same time, Kwaito went beyond the sound and was deeply tied to the shifting political landscape. As the apartheid system began to collapse, Kwaito became a soundtrack for a new generation asserting its identity and freedom. It was the sound played as public gatherings that eschewed the apartheid laws banning public gatherings and enforcing curfews. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Afro house”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Afro house is subgenre of house music, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 6 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²