ELEPHANT EYE: Sousa Jamba says in the competition between South African and Congolese music, this time Mzansi is winning – even in Katanga!
I spent my childhood in the 70s and early 80s in Zambia. In those days, two types of music were competing — the Congolese rumba and South African township jive.
Congo won; every little bottle store in the neighborhood we lived in would be blaring out Franco Luambo and Zaiko Langa Langa and not so much Steve Kekana or Izitombi zejimanjemanje.
Many of us teenagers would struggle with our unreliable shortwave transistors (which often had to be shaken to come to life) to listen to Radio Bophuthatswana which had a programme with the South African tunes we loved.
But now in Zambia there is no doubt that amapiano, the popular South African style, has taken over the nation.
There is a policy in Zambia that radio stations should mainly play local music; however, the young watch cable television and also get to watch music videos on YouTube.
Not all are comfortable with the immense influence popular South African music has on Zambians. Some years ago there was an uproar in social media circles when Zodwa Wabantu, the South African dancer who has a raunchy stage act, was banned from entering Zambia on the grounds that she would corrupt the morals of the nation.
Some young Zambians protested that this was a serious encroachment on their right to watch enjoyable things.
In any case, there is little the authorities can do to stop the amapiano craze in Zambia. In Lusaka, the capital, the idea is not just to have a good looking car — it must also be able to blare out music to make it clear to the world that one has arrived.
I spent one evening with a friend in the suburb of Lusaka called Obama, in homage to Barack Obama. There were several watering holes on Main Street, and amapiano was coming out of several cars. People were dancing away, imitating the moves they had learnt from YouTube clips.
It is not only Zambia that has gone crazy for this style.
I realised just how far amapiano has gone when I noted that the young in the Congolese province of Katanga have also taken to it.
The Congolese are very proud of their music; in the suburbs of Lumbumbashi, the capital of Katanga, it has always been rare to hear the young play South African music.
But now, no one remains seated when amapiano tunes come on.
In Tanzania, there are now local versions of amapiano. In any case, there is a tradition of dramatic wedding entrances —- the bridal party entering the reception hall while making impressive dance moves.
In the past, the dances in Tanzania would have been inspired by Congolese musicians: now it is Sadla B, Khabza de Small or some other South African amapiano star.
