Kwaito kicked out

Spikiri “Though we are told to mourn it, we must know that it was a noble sound. It had majesty. Yes, it was majestic. Deep down in the soul of it all, where the notes themselves provide the levels of revelation, we can only expect of great art.”

These words, written by American writer, poet and music and cultural critic Stanley Crouch, spoke about the “premature autopsies” meted out to jazz in the Eighties.

Delivered like a sermon by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright on the album The Majesty Of The Blues (recorded by Wynton Marsalis), the message is spoken over the backdrop of a New Orleans funeral, and it speaks of the musical marketplace, and how it was told that “this noble sound is dead”.

In South Africa, it would seem that kwaito has not been afforded a noble burial, with some still protesting that its autopsy is indeed premature. The debate has lingered on for some time now, but a formal acknowledgement of its supposed irrelevance was delivered by that once-strong juggernaut of everything South African, radio station Y-FM.

Y-FM music and digital manager Mervyn Sigamoney was quoted recently, saying that “‘new’, ‘trending’ and ‘emerging’ are just a few words that come to mind when you talk about dubstep, Y-FM’s new musical direction.

“…and what they want to do now is to convince people that kwaito is dead …”

“YFM has always been known for never playing it safe with anything we do. Our musical offering has always been just that, and with dubstep taking over the Hot 99 segment, we hope to yet again remain edgy giving the market what they want.”

“Bollocks,” figures Sibo-nile Mpendukana, a Critical Media Studies lecturer at the University Of The Western Cape.

“It is a signal of commercial gain overhauling cultural heritage and history,” he says.

“But to me it also points to Y-FM changing its identity as a radio station; as a brand. What I find bizarre is that the brand was cultivated and built at the dawn of kwaito and that is how it established itself in the market place. For them to feel kwaito must be dropped for ‘emerging trends’ really packs a mean punch to people that love kwaito.”

Jairus “Jakarumba” Nkwe from the kwaito outfit Trompies, believes that the genre is far from dead.

“The problem is that people are too concerned with trends and they don’t respect the culture – that is why these things happen,” Nkwe says.

“Those in power will do anything to convince people of a particular point of view and what they want to do now is to convince people that kwaito is dead – and they have the means and power to do so. But kwaito is still very much alive.”

Mpendukana feels that Y-FM’s decision has implications for the future of the music industry.

“The unfortunate thing, of course, is the overarching message they are sending to kwaito artists and to the music industry at large,” he says.

“ It is no longer about the quality of music, its richness, or the musicality. Now it is purely business motivated. It is very alarming, to say the least, for art to be discarded in this manner.

“What must not escape us, is that even though the ‘your genre is as good as its market power’ argument seems pervasive, and clearly communicated in this instance, we must remember that radio stations have a role to play in our society.

“I personally think that kwaito still possesses historical cultural capital and value even for the current youth who listens to dubstep – or any other genre for that matter.”

Original Article Published by The Citizen (SA).