Blxckie Sika (2021)
South Africa is a global dance music hub, having brought forth subcultures like Gqom from Kwa-Zulu Natal (a province on the country’s east coast) and the now globally renowned genre amapiano in recent years. Pretoria, the nation’s capital, is the country’s unofficial home of deep-house music culture. It's about 25 miles (40 km) from the commercial hub Johannesburg, and now amapiano is for the whole world. There are amapiano artists everywhere, and new examples and iterations of the genre keep popping up around the globe. Of course there are also the perennial dance challenges—just google it—and new dance styles that the music inspires, and even amapiano’s style of dancing has global reach. Not that South Africa is new to creating internationally renowned stars, but it is something special to have founded a whole new branch of dance music, especially in a country famous for its house music culture.
The sound isn’t just a trend; it is enjoying staying power and maturing as local and international artists add their own flavor to it. Blxckie is a South African rapper and singer and his song “Sika” is a birthday anthem, a sauntering celebration of being alive sung over a smooth amapiano instrumental. The lyrics ask the listener to “Sika le khekhe,” translating to “cut the cake.” If you have ever been to the country, you’ll know that South Africans love a celebration and make a fuss over weddings, birthdays, farewells, homecomings, sporting events, summer holidays and the beloved “big weekend” where a Friday or Monday is a national public holiday. African culture is communal, so everyone is invited to join in the fun. And today, it’s someone’s birthday somewhere out there, right?
Dig Deeper
South Africa is a newly democratic country, its democracy being only 30 years old. And in true millennial fashion, this millennial nation is extremely concerned with freedom. South Africa’s constitution is considered one of the most progressive in the world. Much of the house music that came out of the country in the early 90s and onwards has been a celebration and embodiment of this new-found freedom. The late Phumlani Pikoli’s debut novel, Born Freeloaders, documents a weekend in the lives of a few privileged youths at the inception of democracy. It’s a keen and informed look into the lives of the offspring of South Africa’s political elite and offers insight into a rarefied world.
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