Top five South African singles of the year
South African musicians have traditionally relied on live performances and full albums to get their message across, but a recent upsurge in local radio support, and local music television channels like MK89 that play South African music videos, has made releasing singles more viable.
Here, music journo Miles Keylock gives a rundown of his top 5 of 2009.
Albert Frost: Devils & Gods:
‘A Badmotorfinger-ed blues rock séance”
Thandiswa Mazwai: Ingoma
‘A sublime Pan African ballad fuelled as much by Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat fire and the shape-shifting jazz quest of Miles Davis as by spiritual mentors Busi Mhlongo, Miriam Makeba, and Winnie Mandela”.
Cassette: Break My Heart
‘A horny brass ‘n funk Motown pop tease with Afro-pop troubadour Vusi Mahlasela”
Black Hotels: Someone Stole the Light
’ A ‘heart-core’ existential ballad about love lost, paradise postponed and the ennui of living out of sync with the 21st century”
Die Antwoord and Fokofpolisiekar: Doos Dronk
‘Performance art meets punk on this zef-rap rocker that’s both one of the best booze-up anthems of the decade and a brutal parody of SA’s piss-up culture”.
for our review of the year and the decade in lists and multimedia. Books, movies, photos and politics—it’s all here.
