David Byrne Radio Presents: South Africa, Musical Powerhouse

Until recently I had a playlist I updated regularly that was simply called “Africa”. Then I realized that the music from that continent is too varied and diverse to simply be lumped all together, so I began making separate playlists for each country or region. South African music has had another resurgence recently, one of many over the years. A genre called Amapiano emerged about 10 years ago, for example, and it’s popular all over the world. It has roots in House music, says Wikipedia, but the grooves and vocals are very different from those club beats and vocal styles.

I’ve included some of my favorite older recordings as well- some of which are decades old.

Check out this dance that goes with it too

-David Byrne