The music of South Africa exhibits a culturally varied musical heritage in conjunction with the multi-ethnic populace. Genres with the greatest international recognition being mbube, isicathamiya, mbaqanga, afrofusion, kwaito, South African pop music, afro house, South African hip hop, Shangaan electro, bacardi house, bolo house, gqom and amapiano.
Sven Joakim Eriksson Thåström, better known as Thåström, is a Swedish singer and songwriter, mostly known for the bands Ebba Grön and Imperiet. He has moved between a number of genres, from punk to rock, industrial and autobiographical singer-songwriter music.
Breyten Breytenbach was a South African writer, poet, and painter. He became internationally well-known as a dissident poet and vocal critic of South Africa under apartheid, and as a political prisoner of the National Party–led South African Government. He was also known as a founding member of the Sestigers, a dissident literary movement, and was one of the most important poets in Afrikaans literature.
NuL is a South African band formed in 1998 by Adriaan Pelzer and Simon Kruger, operating as NuL since 2004. NuL creates Afrikaans EBM/Industrial music, and propagates the free distribution of their music. Apart from conventional CD sales, they distribute all of their music freely on the internet, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivs license. The music is seeded directly from their website. They also encourage fans on their website to pirate their CD by making the CD artwork of their first CD available as free downloads.
Fokofpolisiekar is an Afrikaans alternative rock band from Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. Due to the obscenity in the name, they are also commonly known simply as Polisiekar or FPK.
Die Warzau was an American industrial music band formed in 1987 by Jim Marcus and Van Christie.
Oppikoppi was a music festival held in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, near the mining town of Northam. The festival started off focusing mostly on rock music, but gradually added more genres and now plays host to a complete mixed bag of genres. Anything from jazz, world music, house music, acoustic, comedy and all else in between can be heard on one of the multiple stages. Each year in the first week of August — except for 2017, when the festival was held in October — thousands of people used to flock to the farm to camp out in the bush and enjoy the music for several days. The festival features mostly South African bands, although international acts are included in the line-up.
Riku Lätti is a South African singer, songwriter, and writer. After matriculation in 1991 at Hoërskool Florida, Johannesburg, he studied philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand where he finished his honors degree. He changed his name to Victor S. Wolf and claimed that Riku Lattii was "dead." Since then he composed the complete film score for Jans Rautenbach's film "Abraham", on which he was credited as Riku Lätti, thereby being effectively resurrected.
Anton Goosen is a South African musician and songwriter. He became a pivotal figure in Afrikaans music and is generally regarded as the father of Afrikaans Rock.
Lark are a South African glitch electronica band from Cape Town. Formed in 2003, the group consists of Inge Beckmann (vocals), Paul Ressel, Simon "Fuzzy" Ratcliffe, and Sean Ou Tim. They are often cited as "groundbreaking musicians", who were the key contributors to establishing experimental and intelligent dance music in South Africa. Their name has become synonymous with musical experimentalism, and are one of the country's best loved acts. Lark has released 3 studio albums, and won a SAMA for their debut album, Razbliuto!. Their music videos have been consistently met with admiration for their technically ability, and have received two MK Awards.
Foto Na Dans was a five piece Afrikaans progressive rock band from Bellville, South Africa, fronted by singer/songwriter Le-Roi Nel. Other band members are Neil Basson, John Havemann (bass), Alex Fourie, and Dirkie Uys (drums).
The Awakening is a South African gothic rock band founded in Johannesburg in 1995 by vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Ashton Nyte. The sound has been described as a hybrid of gothic rock, darkwave, and industrial – a combination that was loosely described by Nyte in 1999 as "dark future rock." The Awakening has released eleven studio albums, several singles, EPs, and two greatest hits compilations in total. As of 2009, The Awakening has been based in the United States.
Straatligkinders is an Afrikaans rock band from Potchefstroom, South Africa.
Ashton Nyte is a South African-born musician who is the frontman of the gothic rock band The Awakening. Nyte has released seven solo albums, in addition to eleven albums as The Awakening and several other projects and collaborations. He is considered to be a pioneer of alternative music in South Africa, and has been described as "something of a musical genius" for his typical method of composing, playing and recording each instrument himself on most of his releases. Nyte is widely known in South Africa for his chart-topping cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" and several other top singles. His signature style combines baritone vocals, garnering comparisons to David Bowie and Johnny Cash, with instrumentation that ranges from lyric-driven acoustic folk, to alternative rock, to post-punk and electronic music, as well as a penchant for the theatrical. Nyte has been based in the US since 2009.
Mind Assault is a heavy metal band formed in 2003, that first emerged in October 2004 under the name Mind Assault. Their members are based in Somerset West near Cape Town, South Africa. They were the first extreme metal band to use their native language Afrikaans in their music, maintaining a balanced use of Afrikaans and English in their music. This language usage results from a re-emerging consciousness among young Afrikaans people through alternative sub-cultures, reflected by bands such as Fokofpolisiekar and Kobus!, which results from a closer observation of their own cultural heritage.
Brasse Vannie Kaap (BVK) was a hip-hop group from the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. They rapped predominantly in the Cape Flats dialect of Afrikaans. The original line-up included Deon Daniels (Boeta-D), Roger Heunis (Hamma), Ashley Titus and Enver Pietersen. Bboys Cheeze, Baby-L and Levi joined the group soon after they started to perform live.
Andre van Rensburg is a South African avant-garde composer, producer and instrumentalist living in Tokyo, Japan. Van Rensburg is a prolific artist with dozens of credits as composer, performer and producer.
Matthew van der Want is a South African singer, songwriter and recording artist.
Beast is a garage rock supergroup from Cape Town. Formed in 2012, the band consists of Inge Beckmann (vocals) of Lark, Louis Nel and Rian Zietsman of Taxi Violence, and Werner von Waltsleben (drums) of Kobus!. BEAST's sound has been self-described as "psychological rock and roll" and a "four-nippled aberration".
Bittereinder is a South African rap/electro band from Pretoria who perform in Afrikaans. Jaco van der Merwe, Peach van Pletzen, and Louis Minnaar founded the three-man band in 2009, and have since performed at major South African festivals such as Oppikoppi, across southern Africa, and the Netherlands. They are known for their high-energy performances.
