About 95 to 105 BPM (Johannesburg)

Kwaito in African electronic music

Kwaito is a slowed-down, vocal form of house music that grew in South Africa's townships in the early 1990s, as apartheid ended.[1][2][3]

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What kwaito is

Producers took imported house records, slowed them and added local percussion, piano and melodies, with vocals chanted or rapped in Isicamtho township slang rather than sung in English. Writers describe it as house in 'second gear': sluggish, syncopated and celebratory.[1][2][3]

Kwaito, also written Durban kwaito (faster regional form).

Tempo

About 95 to 105 BPM (Johannesburg); Durban kwaito around 125[3][4][2]. Gavin Steingo (via Mixmag) says early kwaito 'hovered around 100 BPM' and Soweto DJs played 45rpm records at 33rpm to get to about 95. The Sunday Times (2024) quotes 95 BPM rising to 100 to 105, and says Durban kwaito 'went straight to 125'. Boiler Room says early cassettes were pitched down two to eight semitones.

Where it comes from

South African townships, with Johannesburg, Soweto and Pretoria clubs named · Late 1980s remixing of house; emerging as kwaito around 1993; mainstream by 1998[1][2]

  • Oscar 'Warona' Mdlongwa

    says he and others remixed house with local piano, percussion and melodies in the late 1980s; co-founder of Kalawa Jazmee[1][2]

  • Arthur Mafokate

    called a founding father; his work helped launch kwaito in 1993[1][2]

  • Boom Shaka

    hits brought kwaito into the mainstream in 1998[2]

  • Trompies, Bongo Maffin, Brothers of Peace

    listed as kwaito acts[1]

Where the sources disagree

Meaning of 'kwaai'. SAHO says 'angry' (reversed in slang to 'cool'); Boiler Room says 'cool or new'.[1][2]

Who carried it

  • Kalawa Jazmeelabel

    named after founders Christos Katsaitis, Don Laka and Oscar 'Warona'[1][2]

  • 999 Musiclabel

    Arthur Mafokate's label, named by SAHO[1]

  • YFMradio

    began broadcasting house in 1997[2]

  • Afrotainmentlabel (Durban)

    DJ Tira's label, central to Durban kwaito and later gqom[4]

Moments

  1. 2002 to 2010Durban kwaito peaks (Big Nuz, DJ Tira, T'zozo En Professor's 'Woz' eDurban' 2006) and feeds gqom[4]
  2. 2024Mixmag's Amapiano's Second Wave series traces amapiano directly to kwaito; Golden Lady says 'most amapiano tracks are kwaito remixes'[3]

The rooms it was made for

  • Taxi ranks

    Kwaito was first sold on homemade tapes at taxi ranks; minibus taxis ('Caracara') carried house to and from the townships.[3][2]

  • Shebeens

    Township drinking spots where house cassettes were played pitched down to suit the crowd.[2]

  • Chisa nyama braai spots

    Purist house on Sunday afternoons.[2]

  • Clubs

    Gemini, Cherry's, Carnalita and Ellesse in Pretoria; Caesar's Palace in Braamfontein; Club Razzmatazz in Hillbrow.[2]

Artists on Pulse

1 artists and collectives tagged Kwaito in our data, busiest cities first.

Questions about Kwaito

What is kwaito?

A slowed-down, vocal South African take on house from the early 1990s townships, sung or chanted in township slang.[1][2]

What does kwaito mean?

It comes from the Afrikaans 'kwaai', glossed as 'angry' turned into slang for 'cool'.[1][2]

Is amapiano kwaito?

Amapiano descends from kwaito and 1990s deep house but is a separate, later style built around the log drum.[3]

What BPM is kwaito?

Around 95 to 105 BPM, slower than house; the Durban variant ran near 125.[3][4]

Sources

Last checked 16 October 2026 · Send a correction or a tip

  1. 1History of kwaito musicSouth African History Online · 2011-03-22 (updated 2019-08-27)
  2. 2Born Free: South Africa, the house nationBoiler Room · about 2015 (undated)
  3. 3Amapiano's Second Wave: how kwaito opened the door for amapiano's evolutionsMixmag · 2024-05-28
  4. 4How kwaito and gqom are thriving in DurbanSunday Times (South Africa) · 2024-07-07

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