Trompies
Encyclopedia
The Trompies are a key musical group of South Africa
that specializes in a type of pop music known as kwaito
. The members of the group grew up together in a Soweto
township and agreed to form a band after they had all completeled musical studies in college.
Beginning to make music in the mid 1990s, they have since sold over half a million records and have become very successful in producing and managing other artists as well through their record label Kalawa Jazmee.
groups such as Trompies routinely rap vernacular forms of the major indigenous languages, Xhosa
, Sotho, Tswana
, and Zulu
. Their use of the vernacular is a conscious attempt to address the social, political, and economic issues that impact marginalized communities in ways that hold particular meaning for them. Language is critical for not only celebrating the uniqueness and legitimacy of local communities, but also for maintaining ties between artists and their audiences. Their members include Jairus “Jakarumba” Khuse, Zynne “Mahoota” Sibika, Mandla Mofokeng and Eugene Mthethwa. Each of the members makes shout outs to their families and very often to the bible. There have been references made to Psalm 23, “The lord is my shepherd…” and also to Cain and Able, but the members say they are their brother’s keepers. .These allusions show how important this music is to them especially when they say that they are representing their hometowns.
Another of the defining influences of the group is their "connection with (the older popular musical genre's of South Africa's) past". Two of the group members had previous performing experience as dancers in the bubblegum group of Chicco Twala, and a third was the keyboard player for popular South African reggae
artist Lucky Dube
. This background in older forms of dancing and music lends to their music a style of singing and synchronized dancing and dressing that is much more often found in a pop group than in kwaito, which was previously thought of as the "music of gangsters" but is now, thanks in part to Trompies, becoming increasingly more well-respected.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
that specializes in a type of pop music known as kwaito
Kwaito
Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music featuring the use of African sounds and samples. Typically at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music, Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples,...
. The members of the group grew up together in a Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
township and agreed to form a band after they had all completeled musical studies in college.
Beginning to make music in the mid 1990s, they have since sold over half a million records and have become very successful in producing and managing other artists as well through their record label Kalawa Jazmee.
Trompies' influences
KwaitoKwaito
Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music featuring the use of African sounds and samples. Typically at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music, Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples,...
groups such as Trompies routinely rap vernacular forms of the major indigenous languages, Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
, Sotho, Tswana
Tswana language
Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi...
, and Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
. Their use of the vernacular is a conscious attempt to address the social, political, and economic issues that impact marginalized communities in ways that hold particular meaning for them. Language is critical for not only celebrating the uniqueness and legitimacy of local communities, but also for maintaining ties between artists and their audiences. Their members include Jairus “Jakarumba” Khuse, Zynne “Mahoota” Sibika, Mandla Mofokeng and Eugene Mthethwa. Each of the members makes shout outs to their families and very often to the bible. There have been references made to Psalm 23, “The lord is my shepherd…” and also to Cain and Able, but the members say they are their brother’s keepers. .These allusions show how important this music is to them especially when they say that they are representing their hometowns.
Another of the defining influences of the group is their "connection with (the older popular musical genre's of South Africa's) past". Two of the group members had previous performing experience as dancers in the bubblegum group of Chicco Twala, and a third was the keyboard player for popular South African reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
artist Lucky Dube
Lucky Dube
Lucky Philip Dube was a South African reggae musician. He recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans in a 25-year period and was South Africa's biggest selling reggae artist...
. This background in older forms of dancing and music lends to their music a style of singing and synchronized dancing and dressing that is much more often found in a pop group than in kwaito, which was previously thought of as the "music of gangsters" but is now, thanks in part to Trompies, becoming increasingly more well-respected.