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Mail & Guardian
kwestalatest news & developments

J. Cole announces Johannesburg return as ‘The Fall Off’ tour heads to FNB Stadium

A decade after his last SA show, J. Cole returns to Johannesburg with a chart-topping album and a tour billed as his final chapter.

Style: For more than three decades, Trompies have deliberately maintained their signature township boy attire of takkies and sporties. Photo: Supplied

Kwaito isn’t dead, it’s evolving

Trompies’ story reveals how true legends endure by evolving without losing their cultural centre

Hip-hopping: The Back to the City Festival will take place in Johannesburg on 11 October. Photo: Supplied

Diary: Back to the City Festival; Babalwa Mentjies; A Protea Is Not a Flower

Your essential dose of art and culture

Local legends: Lauren Hendricks will take audiences on a powerful musical journey.

Diary: Lauren Hendricks is all jazzed up, Kwesta’s new Joy, Capitec handmadeAFRICA returns

Your essential dose of art and culture

After several years out of the limelight the veteran rapper, born Senzo Brikka Vilakazi, “Kwesta”  is preparing to finally drop a new album.

Bringing sounds together: How Kwesta and Kabza De Small formed an unlikely union

After several years out of the limelight, Kwesta hopes to rediscover his flair with an experimental new collaborative project.

The local music industry can’t place the blame for its current state solely on the Covid-19 pandemic; it’s been in a mess for a while

The Samas fiasco and a moment of reckoning for South African music

The local music industry can’t place the blame for its current state solely on the Covid-19 pandemic; it’s been in a mess for a while

Mme MaMotaung at Chicken farm informal settlement in 1985. (Santu Mofokeng Foundation)
Video

An ‘aesthetic inheritance’: ugogo the [visual] griot

Refiguring ugogo as a critical figure in the making of Black [visual] archives

Controversial: Macgyver ‘MacG’ Mukwevho (above) hosts Podcast and Chill with MacG, together with Sol Phenduka and the mysterious ‘Ghost Lady’. It is one of the few local podcasts that have been monetised to date. Photo: Courtesy of MacG
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Like, subscribe and comment: The rise of podcasting in South Africa

Podcasts are gaining prominence as a tool to document South African popular culture, but they still have a long way to go as a medium and business

Weekend specials: Take in Victor Gordon’s play ‘Brothers’ at The Market Theatre. (Thandile Zwelibanzi)

The Weekend Guide

For good vibes and an arts fix, don’t miss this

Queer and femme voices like Mx Blouse are also incorporating elements of kwaito into their sound. The wide range of artists inspired by kwaito speaks to the genre’s enduring legacy.

So, kwaito, where to from here?

“To remain relevant to the current generation, kwaito will need to shape-shift and reinvent itself akin to the evolution of hip-hop. “

Tebogo Malope: “I studied on the streets”.

The global messenger: ​Tebogo Malope

"My aim is to take the local story and make it global and give the world an honest portrayal of where I come from."