THE YFM KWAITO DEBATE!!!!!

So a good friend of mine referred me to a show dedicated to Kwaito on Yfm this morning, which pretty much reiterated what I have highlighted in my first post:

http://thekwaicorerevolution.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-kwaicore-revolution.html

The radio station centered its discussion around the fact that the fall of Kwaito has become so much of a pressing issue, that people think Kwaito artists need to address it urgently. Failing which the genre will surely die out. Most artists have taken up residence in Hip Hop and House music, leaving no one to carry the culture of Kwaito and all that it represented.

By that I mean the symbolism behind Arthur Mafokate's hit single "Kaffir" which expressed the political liberation of Black people when Former President Nelson Mandela took office as the first democratically elected President of South Africa. Known as the King of Kwaito, Arthur Mafokate's contribution to the music industry in that regard became that of a very sentimental nature. Something that a fellow listener on Yfm attested to before going onto suggest that Black people have lost pride in their culture. They've gone onto idolizing other genres, leaving the roots of Black culture in their own backyards to malnourish while other genres thrive!

The King of Kwaito

Some people would even go as far as to say Black people have turned their backs on their culture (Kwaito) arguable as a result of shame, especially when considering the development of the White man and his success as an alleged result of past wealth. It is this constant reference to the past, coupled with insecurity that's had Black people believing that walking in the White man's shoes somehow guarantees them a more superior standing in the economy (which in this case is why they choose to produce music in English). That without the White man, the Black man amounts to nothing. Mind you, that these are the very people who claim to oppose oppression yet here they stand voluntarily subjecting themselves to the control of the White man.

Perhaps this should never have been about culture or race or any of that. Perhaps the Black man should leave the White man's shoes alone, stop imposing blame on young Black people or how they've neglected culture, and perhaps acknowledge that maybe Kwaito really just hasn't progressed because the respective artists have failed to be innovative in their fields of expertise. That... is nothing to be proud of. Just as Hip Hop has accommodated our various native languages, maybe Kwaito should also accommodate other non-Black languages i.e.with Hardcore Punk, in an attempt to revive itself while maintaining the spirit of a rainbow nation.