isPantsula Roots Mixtape – DJ Kimon

Image by Tyrone Bradley

DJ Kimon has recently put together this wonderful vintage mixtape for Mahala magazine. It includes South African jazz, mbaqanga, disco, jive and mgqashiyo tunes from 1960-1980’s which eventually led to the creation of the famous ispantsula dance moves. The isPantsula became a very popular form of dance in the 1980s among young men and women in the townships of Africa. The dance was not only used for them to express themselves, but was also a way of life. It expressed their lives as a reflection of the violence of the township culture. It gained international recognition and became the pop music of the decade. In modern South Africa this dance is accompanied by Kwaito music.

The mixtape includes tracks by Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie, Mahotella Queens and the Mgababa Queens, etc.

DJ Kimon  *-*  ‘isPantsula Roots Mixtape’