Heritage Day is finally upon us and what better way to celebrate this day than through music.
Music has always been that one particular element that has always brought South Africans together, regardless of our colour, creed and culture.
Remember how Mandoza’s Nkalakatha quickly transformed from it being a kwaito song to it becoming one of our prized urban national anthems?
Not only did you hear the song in townships but also in Afrikaans pubs and festivals. Whether you were black, white, green purple, when Nkalakatha came on you knew it was time to get down.
Hip-hop and other kwaito songs also took the music industry by storm when the genres began taking a leaf from traditional mbaqanga music.
For example, back in their heydays, hip hop group Jozi, swept the local hip-hop industry by storm when they introduced a new sound which consisted of hip hop beats infused with traditional mbaqanga music.
Their hit single, What’s With The Attitude sampled the sounds of the late accordion and mbaqanga musician Vusi Ximba. Many South African’s were taken aback when they heard Vusi Ximba’s voice on a hip hop track, weeks later, the song became a hit! Who knew mbaqanga and hip hop would sound so good together.
Jozi meets Vusi Ximba
House duo, B.O.P which consisted of Oskido and Bruce tore the dance floors back in 2002 when they brought on the voices of the late Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queen’s on their hit track Meropa (Pitseng Tse Kgolo). This song had the South African masses moving with joy in the summer of 2002.
B.O.P meets Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens
Then there was Boom Shaka who joined forces with Mbaqanga musician, iHashi elimhlope (The White Horse) on the song Bambanani. The video made the song even more memorable as we saw Boom Shaka dressed in traditional Zulu attire and performing Indlamu (Traditional Zulu dance) which was something we were not used to seeing from an urban-pop group like Boom Shaka.
Happy Heritage Day.
