I felt I had to post this song I've been listening to a lot recently. This is a fantastic example of 'new wave' South African dance music. This particular track is in the Shangaan tradition, which is fast, very hot, 'vibey' and uses Pantsula moves (made popular in the 80s among young men and women as a way of expressing frustration and anger in the townships. Its a seemingly violent, fast, aggressive way of dancing. 'When you see them dance you feel like they have got no bones').
Shangaan differs from the sounds of 'the hip hop guys' or afro-pop, because its faster, and uses a different set of instruments. Nozinja argues that he revolutionized the Shangaan music tradition, because he deviated from the traditional set up of bass and lead guitar, by using marimba and organs instead, 'those are the new aspects they never had before. At first people thought I was mad, and now its the in-thing. You can play that music with bass, thats the old-timer music'.
Shangaan comes from the Limpopo province of South Africa. Nozinja describes the area as 'rural. Its hot, very hot and vibey. Shangaan music is about love'
Enjoy!
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These dance moves are amazing. Shame the video doesn’t show more. The music is wicked too. Carnival style. I saw the mask/clown dance version a few months ago (its on one of the next ones after this video). A little scary, masks terrify me! I’m not sure I understand what is behind that…? My friend tried to put on a carnival night in Bristol (as a follow on from a night called Ruffnek Diskotek) but Bristol wasn’t ready! No bass I suppose! Thanks for posting. I want to go dancing now!
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