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Artist
Native Soul
12+ albums
Housesouth africaamapianonew mexicowest coast
about
Native Soul are an electronic producers' duo from South Africa. Kgothatso Tshabalala and Zakhele Mhlanga (a.k.a. DJ Zakes) were born after the year 2000 and would therefore be be considered "ma2000"—or, born after the onset of democracy, having never experienced Apartheid—by virtue of their age. Their début album as Native Soul, Teenage Dreams came out in September 2021, its global release taken care off by the Awesome Tapes from Africa record label. A cousin of Tshabalala introduced the two in 2016. Native Soul was formed in 2019. Until then, each of them had been producing music in a variety of styles including hip-hop, different types of house as well as amapiano. They decided that with Native Soul, their focus would be on amapiano—an electronic music movement which, by then, had begun to dominate both mainstream and underground music scenes in South Africa. Amapiano is an electronic music movement first created and still most popular in the townships surrounding the major cities of Gauteng province in South Africa. The style borrows from various genres which have been popular in South African townships during and after apartheid, including jazz, folk, afro, deep and tech house, kwaito, dibacardi and others. As well as paying homage to all its predecessors, amapiano also has traits entirely of its own making, which differentiate it from its lineage. The most recognisable of these being the drums made from basslines which stick out like a pocket turned outside of pants.
