DJ Uncle Waffles, whose real name is Lungelihle Zwane, recently made her way out of the country to give amapiano fans abroad a taste of South Africa’s hottest genre right now.
She rose to prominence after a video of her playing a set went viral late last year, winning international recognition not only of her, but of the song the world would come to know as Adiwele by musician Young Stunna and amapiano royalty Kabza de Small.
This set Zwane on an upward trajectory and would see her play at almost every amapiano festival, while gaining popularity among renowned musicians such as American rapper Drake.
Next on the map was the UK, where amapiano seems to be a lifestyle too. Zwane made her UK début this month on March 5, but it seems she has been met with a hostile response from both South African and British fans.
Many took to the internet to call her out, with one Twitter user posting: “Yes, Uncle Waffles is wack! But we have to defend her against the coloniser,” while others questioned the validity of her rise to stardom, which came through a 60-second video clip.
Fortunately, there was also support for Zwane, with some South African fans standing by her.
One Twitter user posted: “UK people only know TikTok amapiano. Uncle Waffles played Iy’ntsimbi Zase Envy and those [British fans] just stood there,” referring to the lack of indepth knowledge among amapiano-lovers abroad.
HAS UNCLE WAFFLES FLOWN TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN?
Perhaps the most important thing to note is that Zwane did indeed rise to prominence through a single short video clip which happened to go viral – hardly a credible foundation for assessing her talent.
Viral videos have been giving young artists mega-platforms on which to push themselves and their work, with the best-known ones being TikTok and Twitter. While important and valuable to the fibre of new-age artists, these platforms also play a big factor in the lack of longevity of most viral sensations.
READ: How easy is it to become a DJ?
Zwane, however, did the unheard of when she went viral in 2021. Her video was merely a stepping stone to a very lucrative career in the entertainment industry. This meant she continued to build a fan base, impressing music buffs internationally, while grabbing the opportunity to market herself as a notable young artist.
This seems to suggest that she took the time to master the craft of being a DJ long before she hit international stardom. All crafts take practice to perfect and it appears that Zwane was not a newbie in the business when she rose to fame.
Long before she went viral, she documented her DJ journey, giving fans access to her sets in 2020 – a sharp contrast to some DJ acts we have seen infiltrate the mainstream circuit.
IS THE UK THE PROBLEM?
Time and again, the UK has come under the fire of South African amapiano fans. In 2021, they called their British counterparts out when they had their first annual amapiano festival called AMAFest, which featured acts such as DBN Gogo and Kamo Mphela.
Many South Africans made it known that the UK did not understand amapiano as an important subculture and called on all South Africans to gatekeep the genre in order to retain its authenticity. The same was seen when Jorja Smith released her (admittedly horrendous) take on amapiano with her song, All of This.
It would seem that the UK does not, in fact, have a true understanding of amapiano as an expansive and eclectic genre and subculture, creating unrealistic expectations of South African amapiano DJs, who they expect to play only trending sounds. This helps explain why Zwane was not as well received in the UK as she has been elsewhere.
Has her greatest test as a creative finally come – and will she ever surpass the success of her video début?
Only time will tell.
| Janice PhiriCulture Writer
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