kwaito — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A style of music featuring words chanted over house music, originating in Johannesburg during the 1990s.

   Usage

   • South-Africa
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   Kwaito is a genre-defying style blending the programmed percussion and vibrant call-and-response vocals of 1980s bubble-gum with British garage, American hip-hop and the new Jamaican ragga music; this inter-cultural mix, in turn, is framed by laid-back bass lines that can sound like Chicago-based house music in slow motion.

   The residue of this otherworldliness is still audible in contemporary kwaito, which consistently thwarts any simple identification with ethnicity, language, or social position.

2. The meme or milieu associated with the music style.

   Usage

   • South-Africa
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Sivuyile is part of the kwaito generation.