Bacardi House-Tinged Amapiano Is Setting the Streets Ablaze

Think of the first amapiano song you ever heard. Chances are that whatever track introduced you to the genre doesn’t sound like the latest you’ve heard from it. Perhaps that’s one of amapiano's greatest strengths, or what sets it apart from other music genres: its constant mutation and evolution, especially within short periods of time.

While the debatable birthplace of the genre often points to townships in Johannesburg, many enthusiasts argue and rather mention those of Pretoria. Before these conflicting remarks, however, there was a sound uncontestedly birthed in the city now known as Tshwane. During the 2000s, artists and DJs/producers such as DJ Mujava, DJ Spoko, House Station, Mzo Bullet, and others pioneered Bacardi house and what was commonly known as “sgubhu saPitori” with songs such as "Township Funk," "Tobetsa," "Casablanca" and "Mugwanti."

Due to these aforementioned, era-defining hits, many mainstream amapiano artists, particularly those that come from Pretoria have cited Mujava as their inspiration. Focalistic, who is always vocal about the influence bacardi house has in his music, declared in an interview with French publication Pan African Music, “we are the children of Mujava.” The opening track to his 2021 EP President Ya Straata is a heartwarming ode to the genre, aptly titled Barcardi Ke Religion (which translates to “bacardi is a religion”). On "16 Days No Sleep," from the same EP, Foca borrows the refrain “vele vele vele vele / vele vele vele vele, pash pash pash pash pash / masubelele… o ke patje o mo wete / o ke leGogo le le sharp” from an underground bacardi hit. The song also interpolates the bassline of DJ Nyiko’s "Sweety Ngwago Ke Busy," another beloved bacardi hit.

Similarly, DJ Dadaman (of Team Skorokoro fame) revived the popular "Miami (You’ve Got The Power)" by slowing it down and incorporating the log drum, giving it a 2021 face lift for his song of the same name. A growing trend within some recent amapiano hits.

Dj Mujava - Township Funkwww.youtube.com

In Mokowe productions’ Mzongkonko Amapiano Music Documentary, Shuffle Muzik (one half of Team Mosha) mentions jazz, kwaito and bacardi as the building blocks of amapiano. Acts such as Team Mosha, Pencil & Zing Master and Team Skorokoro were “pushing piano“ pre-2019 — before it became fashionable to do so in the mainstream. However, they are often overlooked and omitted in conversations, mainly because their sound was unique, raw and stylistically had traces of bacardi, which as a genre also sometimes suffered from the same prejudice on the national scale.

“When bacardi was introduced in the hood, it captured excessive celebration spirits in the ears of the people,” shares Blaqnick, of the Atteridgeville-bred duo Blaqnick & MasterBlaq, the architects behind the hits Whistling Man, La Mezcla (B&M Revisit) and Khuza Gogo. “Back then, when bacardi was the genre, it had its own unique lifestyle. Clubs, taverns, gatherings, and events were dominated by the genre so extensively. Memories were created back then. The dance moves were fire. Peoples' adrenalines were fired up whenever they heard bacardi playing.”

The once popular bacardi house sound has been experiencing a renaissance through amapiano. This second coming, and fusion of the two genres started showing its face to the earth in mid-2021 on songs such as the recently officially released (but leaked) hit track "Trust Fund" from DJ Maphorisa (& Madumane), Kabza De Small, Focalistic and the late Mpura, produced by Mellow & Sleazy.

“There’s ‘new age bacardi’ that the young producers are doing, by blending it with elements of piano,” shared DJ Maphorisa, during his intimate conversation with Kabza De Small, for Black Crowns’ Crowning Moment. “Even the tempo has been slowed down. The old bacardi used to be around 120/122 bpm, and the new iteration sits at 113/112. Pretorian producers have merged the two sounds; they’re using signature bacardi snares and hi-hats,” the super-producer continues

Production duo Mellow & Sleazy have been spearheads, and are leading the pack. The Tshwane-natives — who hail from the townships of Ga-Rankuwa and Soshanguve — grew up being surrounded by the gritty, distorted sounds of bacardi house blasting through the speakers of neighbours or from jukeboxes of nearby taverns. The sound is therefore authentic and comes natural to them. Sleazy supported this notion when he confessed, “it’s not that difficult to mix bacardi and piano because it’s almost the same thing,” during an episode of Oskido’s Joy Ride YouTube show.