Apple Music has created a new outlet to highlight the rapidly rising dance music community in Africa.
Isgubhu will spotlight a number of popular African subgenres including Gqom, Amapiano, Kwaito, Mzansi House, and Shangaan Electro. Fittingly, the term “Isgubhu” comes from a Zulu word meaning “beat.”
Isgubhu will additionally host a number of playlists to assist in the music discovery process and to spotlight the continent’s power players rising to the forefront. One such playlist, “Spotlight On:” will focus upon South Africa’s burgeoning label ecosystem. Meanwhile, “Isgubhu Voices” will spotlight dance music tracks with vocal features. The playlist has debuted with South Africa’s own Black Coffee featured on the cover art, who just released his hotly-anticipated Sophomore album, Subconsciously, yesterday.
“It’s a true honour to be titled as the very first Isgubhu hero artist by my friends at Apple Music,” Black Coffee said in a press release. “To me, home is everything… the absolute core of my being. Bringing the sounds of South Africa to the world is a life-long mission I’ll never stop chasing after.”
Apple Music is aiming to achieve its next wave of growth by making significant investments in the African streaming market. As reported by Billboard, the streaming giant has expanded its services into 37 African nations as of last year. With that progress, the company has continued to roll out new curated initiatives spotlighting the continent including the Africa Rising playlist, which was released in July of 2020.