For a african treasure lover, I advice you to go and see on http://lesdisquesafricains.blogspot.fr/

Regards.

Thomas

1. my thesis is that AFTER the initial phase, a time when Chicago House was not only taken as inspiration but often “straight imitated” by SA artists, SA music came into its own. So i did absolutely acknowledge the “seminal” influence from the US.

2. good point about the different strands of Kwaito not being mentioned, but a dissection of the genre is not the focus of this piece. maybe a good idea for another article… maybe you should write it?

3. i suppose a statement like that can seem condescending. but it is truthful to what i have observed: SA youths often prize American exports more than their own local culture. Kanye West is worth more than Shangaan Music. This is incontestable.

Peace.

Your intentions are good, but you also gloss over a lot of issues. Old school kwaito is slowed-down house, even the early proponents will attest to that (DJ Christos, DJ Oskido, Arthur Mafokate, Don Laka)

What you also fail to point out is that there were different sides to kwaito. What came out of Kalawa Jazmee was different to 999music which, in turn, was different to what was coming out of, say, M’du productions or Ghetto Ruff.

“And it is not surprising that South Africans themselves often reproduce these skewed perspectives, being a people recently liberated, and still largely in awe of everything from the wealthy people up north”

Hm, condescending much?

While your efforts are great, you fail to engage meaningfully with a topic which could’ve opened up alternative views to the ‘roots of kwaito’ issue.