The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2023 - Issue 33

Images courtesy of Satellite-414 via Joe Larkin E merging South African DJ duo Major League DJZ and American electronic dance music DJ trio Major Lazer recently unveiled the video for ‘Ke Shy’ shot in South Af- rica. The track featuring South African vocalist Tyla and artists LuuDaDeejay and Yumbs is taken from the two Majors’ collab- orative amapiano album Piano Republik featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Channel Tres, Nigerian singers Joey and Tiwa Savage, South Afri- can DJ Maphorisa and others. “Africa is the centre of musical energy for the whole world right now, and amapiano is easily one of the most exciting things hap- pening,” said Walshy Fire of Major Lazer. “It’s blown up all over the continent, but it all started in South Africa, and Major League DJZ is in the middle of everything. As soon as we got to experi- ence their movement in real life, we knew we just had to collabo- rate.” Amapiano is a South African style of house music descend- ed from the kwaito and Afrobeats genres. Synths, airy pads and broad percussive bass lines characterise the deep house, jazz and lounge hybrid music. Twins Bandile and Banele Mbere from Major League DJZ have risen to internation- al visibility as South African dance music stars, producing hits like ‘Bakwa Lah’ and ‘Dinaledi’. In June, the duo became the first amapiano act to debut a massive London residency at Outernet, a new entertainment venue that opened this year in the West End. Major Lazer’s Diplo, Walshy Fire, and Ape Drums take their group name from a fictional one-armed Jamaican Zombie War Commando. The trio have a mission to free the universe with music and has released four acclaimed albums featuring the Di- amond-certified ‘Lean On’ with DJ Snake and MØ. Their 2020 album Music Is The Weapon featured songs in five languages and collaboration with Nicki Minaj, Marcus Mumford, Khalid, Ales- sia Cara, Anitta, Paloma Mama, Busy Signal, and more. www.majorleaguedjz.com https://majorlazer.com bitenewmusic Major League DJZ and Major Lazer Ke Shy