{ "slug": "amapiano", "name": "Amapiano", "aliases": [ "piano", "yanos", "log drum" ], "description": "Gauteng's deep-house descendant, built on jazzy piano chords, shuffling percussion and a bending synthetic bass note called the log drum. Slow, spacious, endlessly extendable, and by the twenties the most exported South African music ever made.", "origin": { "place": "Gauteng, South Africa", "year": 2012 }, "lineage": [ { "genre": "kwaito", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/", "inherited": "The tempo and the temperament. Amapiano sits at the same unhurried pace kwaito established, with the same preference for a vocal that hangs back — and it inherits kwaito's function as township music before it is anything else." }, { "genre": "chicago-house", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/", "inherited": "The chords. Underneath the log drum is deep house harmony played on a piano, which is why the genre feels familiar to anyone who has heard a Mr. Fingers record even when nothing else about it does." } ], "bpm": { "min": 110, "max": 118 }, "updated": "2026-08-29", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/amapiano/", "trackCount": 7, "curatedBy": [], "playlists": {}, "tracks": [ { "rank": 1, "trackKey": "kabza-de-small-featuring-leehleza--umshove", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/kabza-de-small-featuring-leehleza--umshove/", "title": "Umshove", "artist": "Kabza De Small featuring Leehleza", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/kabza-de-small-featuring-leehleza/", "year": 2018, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "One of the first amapiano tracks to carry a vocal, and the one that introduced most South Africans to the genre and to its most prolific producer. The log drum arrives fully formed.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Kabza%20De%20Small%20featuring%20Leehleza%20Umshove", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WrOv0R6yc4o", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 2, "trackKey": "focalistic-featuring-vigro-deep--ke-star", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/focalistic-featuring-vigro-deep--ke-star/", "title": "Ke Star", "artist": "Focalistic featuring Vigro Deep", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/focalistic-featuring-vigro-deep/", "year": 2020, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Sepedi rap over a piano loop, and the record that made amapiano continental rather than national. The bassline does almost nothing and is the whole reason it works.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Focalistic%20featuring%20Vigro%20Deep%20Ke%20Star", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=a9_da2P5JjQ", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 3, "trackKey": "mfr-souls-featuring-major-league-djz-kamo-mphela-and-bontle-smith--amanikiniki", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mfr-souls-featuring-major-league-djz-kamo-mphela-and-bontle-smith--amanikiniki/", "title": "Amanikiniki", "artist": "MFR Souls featuring Major League Djz, Kamo Mphela and Bontle Smith", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mfr-souls-featuring-major-league-djz-kamo-mphela-and-bontle-smith/", "year": 2020, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "By a duo some credit with naming the genre. Platinum in South Africa, and a good demonstration that amapiano's hooks are usually carried by the dancers rather than the singer.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MFR%20Souls%20featuring%20Major%20League%20Djz%2C%20Kamo%20Mphela%20and%20Bontle%20Smith%20Amanikiniki", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=r3UVw_SZbMs", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 4, "trackKey": "young-stunna-featuring-kabza-de-small-and-dj-maphorisa--adiwele", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/young-stunna-featuring-kabza-de-small-and-dj-maphorisa--adiwele/", "title": "Adiwele", "artist": "Young Stunna featuring Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/young-stunna-featuring-kabza-de-small-and-dj-maphorisa/", "year": 2021, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The vocal record that proved the form could carry real singing without speeding up. Notumato is the album most likely to survive as the genre's canonical statement.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Young%20Stunna%20featuring%20Kabza%20De%20Small%20and%20DJ%20Maphorisa%20Adiwele", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=kjgzYp1Cm4Y", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 5, "trackKey": "mr-jazziq-featuring-lady-du-kabza-de-small-and-boohle--woza", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mr-jazziq-featuring-lady-du-kabza-de-small-and-boohle--woza/", "title": "Woza", "artist": "Mr JazziQ featuring Lady Du, Kabza De Small and Boohle", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-jazziq-featuring-lady-du-kabza-de-small-and-boohle/", "year": 2021, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Amapiano at its most extroverted — five names on the credit, a chant instead of a chorus, and an arrangement that keeps handing the track to somebody else.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr%20JazziQ%20featuring%20Lady%20Du%2C%20Kabza%20De%20Small%20and%20Boohle%20Woza", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7CCKGbuzrUM", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 6, "trackKey": "semi-tee-featuring-miano-and-kammu-dee--labantwana-ama-uber", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/semi-tee-featuring-miano-and-kammu-dee--labantwana-ama-uber/", "title": "Labantwana Ama Uber", "artist": "Semi Tee featuring Miano and Kammu Dee", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/semi-tee-featuring-miano-and-kammu-dee/", "year": 2019, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "An early landmark, and the point where the log drum stops being one sound among several and becomes the thing the whole arrangement is built to display.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Semi%20Tee%20featuring%20Miano%20and%20Kammu%20Dee%20Labantwana%20Ama%20Uber", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L50LDGb4rWg", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 7, "trackKey": "tyler-icu-and-tumelo-za--mnike", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/tyler-icu-and-tumelo-za--mnike/", "title": "Mnike", "artist": "Tyler ICU & Tumelo ZA", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/tyler-icu-and-tumelo-za/", "year": 2023, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Number one in South Africa and unavoidable everywhere else within a month. Ten years after the genre started, its biggest record is still built from a loop, a chant and a bending bass note.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Tyler%20ICU%20%26%20Tumelo%20ZA%20Mnike", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IBOvTfcMfjY", "exact": true } } } ] }