Amapiano Now

Over the past few years, amapiano has emerged from the townships of Johannesburg and Pretoria, quickly taking over charts and dancefloors around the world. Its uplifting,  blissed-out feel is down to a few signature elements: the everpresent sunny keys — the “piano” in amapiano—, bright synths, log-drum sounds, and jazzy chords. Amapiano’s grassroots background means the genre has developed into several different styles, and NTS’ Amapiano Now  does a great job at capturing this dynamism, from King Jazz’ jazzy, laid back “Lockdown”, to the more brooding gqom inflected synths on DBN Gogo, Musa Keys and Dinho’s “Possible”. It’s the perfect intro to the sound that’s quickly taking over the world as of 2021.