Samthing Soweto grateful to fans for their ongoing support and gifts them with new Amapiano EP Danko!
When the South African singer-songwriter and producer Samthing Soweto released his debut album Isphithipthi in September 2019, ripples of excitement were felt nationwide. Today, the prolific album attains its Platinum milestone in South Africa!
With the help of Artist Services company, Platoon, the album broke pre-add records on Apple Music and it solicited a frenzy of media coverage and airwaves domination, paving an unforgettable summer season for Samthing Soweto’s Amapiano hits. Ably created in collaboration with a coterie of star writers, producers and vocalists such as Kabza De Small, DJ Maphorisa, MFR Souls, Mas Musiq, Sha Sha and Mlindo The Vocalist, the undertaking resulted in no musical drawbacks – just dance-floor fillers and distinct future classics.
True to Samthing Soweto’s eclecticism as an artist, the album does not only comprise of dance (Amapiano) music but it takes listeners on a poetic journey with tender Pop-Soul songs (so pertinent during the Lockdown) such as the title track “Isphithiphtihi”, “Nodoli” which was written for and about his own daughter,“Omama Bomthandazo” (an ode to the nation’s downtrodden mothers), and a track which has now become a local cultural meme, “Happy Birthday”; all of them hits in their own right. With either Gold or Platinum status attributable to nearly every track on this timeless album, it’s an affirmation of the Rolling Stone review which described it as “verging on beatific”; and no deep listening, most certainly no skips are required, to get through this body of work. Isphithiphithi not only earned Samthing Soweto a staggering 9 #SAMA26 nominations; he also won the prestigious Best Afro Pop Album award this year.
Today:
Samthing Soweto releases a new EP entitled Danko! (“Danko” is Amapiano slang for “thank you”). Hitmaker De Mthuda leads the production while Entity Musiq contributes to one track, the two of them amongst a troupe of collaborators like Njelic, Alie-Keys, MalumNator and Da Musiqal Chef. With the first single “Weekend” already charting, fans will surely luxuriate in other fine selections, such as”Chomi” and “Tilili”.
Danko! is now available to stream and download on all major digital stores here: http://platoon.lnk.to/danko
Packaged into a new sizzling summer EP, Danko! includes a truly unique choral interpretation of the Amapiano hits from Isphithiphithi, performed in an original and heart-warming collaboration with the pride of Soweto, Mzansi Youth Choir, for those fans with a habitual discernment in their music tastes. Re-imagined in an inimitable way as a nod to his career beginnings as an a capella star with one of South Africa’s supergroups, The Soil, “The Danko! Medley” is a groundbreaking, genre-bending fusion of Amapiano with choral arrangements, eliciting quite a hedonic thrill.
If new music was not enough, the fans are treated to a special live recording of “The Danko! Medley” exhibiting the iconic choral collaboration, available exclusively on Apple Music for its first week of release – following which fans will be able to view it on-demand on all online visual platforms.
In Samthing Soweto’s own words:
“The Mzansi Youth Choir performed an own rendition of “Akulaleki”, and it gained traction on social media. I came across it and I really liked how they sounded. I was also impressed by the fact that here was a group of young people, who can interpret popular music in a different way, yet so beautifully. So, I reached out to them and after a few rehearsals of the new song arrangements, we recorded “The Danko! Medley”. The medley is eponymous with my new EP. “Danko” is Amapiano slang for “thank you”, and this record is exactly that; a tilting of the brim of my hat to a South African genre that has firmly positioned itself on the music mainstream, and one that has made it possible for my music to be more pervasive than before.”
