House Kwasa Kwasa House
I still haven’t been able to send him those guitars, but Red Pepper has the Ruff Riddims studio up and running (and blogging!) — and it’s not like there aren’t guitars or guitarists in Botswana.
Indeed, the first track I’ve heard out of the studio, “Dumelang” by Skeat (pronounced Skee-tee), is an ebullient bit of kwasa house (aka, house kwasa), including that trademark kwasa-kwasa guitar (nodding to the noodly lines of soukous). No doubt it’ll be a local hit. But will Vampire Weekend fans dig it?
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Skeat’s 17. Lots more songs in him. In this occasionally audible interview, he sounds young and confident about his mix of “traditional, house kwasa, kwaito.” I look fwd to hearing more.
Plus, the hip-hop/reggae/r&b of Tebza Rocker! Stay tuned–
musicologist, internet annotator, imagined community organizer.
4 Comments Add your own
1. Daniel Boris Dzula | January 14th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I tend to be a silent-reader, but I had to speak up about this post – amazing, thank you!
2. wayneandwax | January 14th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Thanks, Daniel — It’s always good to hear from readers I didn’t know were reading! Glad to hear you dig what’s happening at Ruff Riddims.
3. DUTTY ARTZ » Blog A&hellip | July 30th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
[...] on this year, Wayne introduced us to Skeat’s “Dumelang” – a jam which I think gets played at every NY Tropical, and I’ve heard Geko and [...]
4. Rachel | November 29th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I just happened onto this site and I saw the link for Botswana. I don’t know how it could be done, but the local artists from Botswana are amazing – Vee, Alfred Mos, Nature Boys, and Bojo Mujo from South Africa. They aren’t very available, but if this is popular then is there a way to get there stuff out to the public? There should be a Botswana party dedicated to artists from there and making their music known.
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