“ You know how hood politics go. There’s a big debate about which township amapiano originated from. The truth of the matter is, amapiano was born in the soil of the streets of South Africa. Therefore, it belongs to all of us”
– Wandile Themba, Shaya! documentary
It’s Valentine’s weekend 2020 at the Chimurenga Factory. A mix of locals and internationals rub against each other in the tiny makeshift club in Woodstock, Cape Town’s most racially diverse square mile. “Sukendleleni” by Jobe London and Mphow 69 has just come on, and a flood of people start chanting “Jovey! Jovey!” in the direction of a seven-foot high subwoofer. The amapiano track skips, coils and drops like fireworks popping in the skies above Woodstock, mini-explosions of magic and resistance in the weeks before the world’s club lights were switched off.
In 2021, you can’t really call amapiano a genre. The – an affectionate term for the fans and creators behind South Africa’s fastest-growing musical movement – often refer to it as
