Nigerian artists are known for their creativity to redefine any sound they get their hands on and the trending Amapiano sound is the latest offering.
The Amapiano sound infiltrated its way into the Nigerian airwaves in 2020 and it became popular after Nigerian artists like Mayorkun, Niniola, Davido, Masterkraft, Olamide and the rest jumped on it.
Origin wise, the sound originated from South Africa and is a Zulu word for ‘the pianos’. The sound is a style of house music that emerged in South Africa in 2012.
Amapiano is a deep house, jazz, and lounge music mix characterized by synths, airy pads, and wide and percussive bass lines.
It is characterized by high-pitched piano melodies, Kwaito bass lines, low tempo 90s South African house rhythms, and percussions from another local sub-genre of house music labelled as Bacardi.
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While there has been a lot of ambiguity concerning its origins, there have been various accounts of the musical styles originating in the Johannesburg townships — Soweto, Alexandra, Vosloorus and Katlehong.
From the end of 2020 to the present, practically every A-list singer has jumped on the trend to create the ‘Nigerian Amapiano’ sound, much to the joy of their fans.
Amapiano in Nigeria
Nigerian musicians are noted for their ability to own any sound they are introduced to. This is known as the ‘Nigerian Effect.’
The Amapiano sound won’t be the first sound from outside the shores to have Nigerian artists jumping on it.
For example, the Makossa craze which had been the mainstream sound in Cameroon for decades before it swept Nigeria in the early 2000s, gained popularity in the Congo from the mid-’90s onwards, finally leading to the viral presence of Congolese singer Awilo Longomba within the country’s shores.
Another example is The Azonto sound which originated from Ghana and found its way into the Nigerian airwaves in the 2010s and had artists producing songs tailored to the sound.
While it’s not certain how Amapiano sound got into Nigeria, but social media and streaming platforms have a role to play in the popularity of the sound.
The sound started taking shape in Nigeria after Mayorkun dropped “Of Lagos” in the month of April 2020.
Then, music producer, Kiddominant dropped “EWallet” a collaboration with South African act, Cassper Nyovest in May and another music producer, Masterkraft dropping the Flavour-assisted “Equipment” in June.
It wasn’t too long when other artists like Rema and Niniola dropped “Woman” and “Addicted” respectively in the month of July.
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At this time, the sound was at its baby steps in the Nigerian music Industry.
However, in the 4th quarter of 2020, it was evident that Amapiano was already becoming the trending sound in the Industry.
Davido wasn’t left out of the craze as his 2020 album, “A Better Time” contained three different Amapiano songs, “Heaven“, “I Have a friend” featuring Mayorkun and Sho Madjozi and “La La” featuring Ckay.
Other songs lie “Require” by DJ Tunez and Olamide, “Highway” by DJ Kaywise and Phyno, “Hallelu” by Masterkraft, Zlatan and Bella Shmurda, “Inumidun” by Skales, “Squander” by Falz and Niniola among others were dropped in the late part of 2020.
The popularity of these songs trickled into 2021 which witnessed a boom of more Amapiano songs. In fact, at some point, it felt like every artist was producing Amapiano inspired songs.
Except for a few other songs, Amapiano songs became the dominating songs on the airwaves.
Pan-African collaborations like that of Focalistic and Davido on the remix of “Ke Star“, “Coming” by Naira Marley and Busiswa among others have aided in the popularity of the sound.
South Africa and Nigeria connection
It would be a surprise to many to know that Amapiano isn’t the first South African sound to have Nigerian artists jumping on it. For example, the Shaku Shaku craze that once dominated the Industry can be traced back to South Africa.
In fact, one of Shaku Shaku’s earliest proponents, “Legbegbe” by Mr Real has its roots in Gqom- the House variant that combines SA folk with bombastic, Techno-indented bassline.
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This song alongside other similarly styled bangers like “Oshozondi” and “Shepeteri”, led the Shaku Shaku wave that has now become foundational to Nigerian street-hop music today.
Through constant innovation, the sound has mutated and evolved into several dimensions.
This is also the same case in Amapiano. However, unlike Gqom which elements could be manipulated to give a different sound, Amapiano is a lot more complex due to its musical specificity.
The subgenre’s sonic make-up is so distinct that it’s obvious when it’s been adopted, and retooling causes such severe alterations that it can no longer be classified as Amapiano.
It doesn’t imply that the sound is limited; rather, it emphasizes how distinctive it is.