BY SILISIWE MABALEKA BULAWAYO singer Philatu “Stormza” Nkiwane has joined hands with South African wheel spinner and producer Mjava to release a song titled Vul’isekele that advocates for the embracing of the amapiano genre.
Stormza, who is also a vocal engineer and producer, told NewsDay Life & Style that he saw Zimbabwean amapiano hitting international charts.
“People are treating amapiano as a bonus, they have misconceptions around this particular genre. They have to understand that it is not only about chanting, but we can have songs with a strong message just like how I do amapiano as a rap,” he said.
“I want amapiano to go big locally just like hip-hop and other vibrant genres. Let us treat amapiano like songs cut from hip-hop or house, something which people can relate to.”
Stormza said the song Vul’isekele is a new wave of amapiano with a fusion of bacardi.
“I envisage the local pianos to reach international standards. We had problems with submitting our tracks to radio stations back then as local pianos were associated with poor quality and low lyrical standards. This made it hard for radio stations to believe that the content was ours,” he said.
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“The song has the trending zekethe dance. To set ourselves apart from the rest, we had to treat amapiano like other genres, give it respect on production and lyrics to make fans like and understand that it is not all about chanting and screaming.
“… it is not all about just writing three words that do not make sense and recording them. Amapiano has its own language and sound.”
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