KWAITO IS DEAD pt 6 0f 6

LONG LIVE THE KING

And get used to it we have. Kwaito has continued to grow, to encompass and embody the current state of the youth of South Africa. We are partying too much and forgetting the issues. We are stepping away from our traditions and not honouring what got us here in the first place. At some point the party must end and we must get to the business of living and developing what we have been given. 

In regards to Kwaito,  "Is it dead?" For some, yes. For others, it is just beginning to take its first steps. For Arthur it is very much alive,

I was the one who termed it Kwaito, But if now you say that there is a definition of what the beat is in order for it to be Kwaito, then it means for all these years, that I haven’t been doing Kwaito!

When we revolutionized the music industry with Kwaito music, we gave our people an identity. To say Kwaito no longer exists and call it House or Hip Hop, which are international terms and music forms, is to take away who we are as a people. Are we then saying that we don’t exist?

 Kwaito is who and where we are as South Africa’s youth. It’s our way of life, it’s the music, the way we dress, the way we talk, it’s our way of life as a youth. The music is the expression of that.

I feel that people are confused. When L’vovo was nominated for a Sama, to me that was a Kwaito track.

Put M’du’s earlier music and some of  Kabello’s more recent tracks, and and let someone listen to it. Play those different artists for a sober minded person, they will say that it’s all Kwaito.

 The Mahoota track,  it’s Kwaito, Cleo’s track, Kwaito, Thebe’s track, is Kwaito. What those Durban boys are doing, L’vovo Derango and the rest, yes you can say it’s dance music, but Kwaito is dance music. So when people say Kwaitio is dead, I’m suspicious of what exactly it is that they are trying to push.

-ARTHUR

Yes what exactly?! At the end of the day, what matters is that we don’t let down the vision of Nelson Mandela, who championed our ability to have the freedom we enjoy today. So to Kwaito I say goodnight , may angels sing thee to thy rest.