Amapiano sensation DJ Kabza De Small and conductor Ofentse Pitse break classical music stereotypes

The highly anticipated Red Bull Symphonic, featuring Amapiano DJ and record producer Kabza De Small (real name Kabelo Motha) alongside orchestra conductor and architect Ofentse Pitse and the symphonic orchestra, delivered a memorable concert where some of the biggest Amapiano hits were performed live. In the aftermath of this event, Daily Maverick interviewed Kabza and Pitse.

According to Pitse, “This concert was really a culmination of the heart and vision I have for orchestra in Africa. The beautiful thing that happened was the orchestration of the music with my co-arrangers.

See Red Bull Symphonic video here

“I wanted us to write this music as if we were approaching it in a way that it could exist in the Vienna Symphony orchestra and could be played by the students of the music department at university and dissect it academically. The point was to make a statement with academics, culture, and music enthusiasts.” 

Pitse said; “The event came about as a result of a combination of a vision I had for orchestra which is that orchestra deserves to be in spaces that we are conditioned to believe it can’t exist in.

“Being from that world most of the time felt like I didn’t belong. Venturing into my career as a conductor, I sat for a long time thinking about what kind of conductor I wanted to be. And that led me to an urge to curve my own identity as a conductor who is from Africa because for me it was so important to highlight the voice of Africa in a creative and musical space.

“For many years we have been told that Africa doesn’t own stuff and almost like we have to ask for permission for things that innately come from Africa. That’s why there is always this misconception that we have to redo or reimagine.

“But when you think about it, sound comes from Africa when we look at the genealogy of a lot of instruments they are from Africa; the hub is one example. My heart for the space was really to be a conduit for the message of African expression. So when this project came it was part of what I felt strongly about orchestra which is why even the configuration of the orchestra we had your classical instruments, but then there are African instruments, the choral, mbira dzavadzimu, and sabar drum.

“This fusion of African sounds and the orchestra brought two worlds of percussionists together, with percussionists playing African instruments mostly don’t know how to read music but play based on spirit and those who are classically trained from the paragoge of music. For me, it was so important to showcase that because it would have been such a disservice that an Amapiano concert sounded baroque, ”she said.

For Kabza, who loves challenging himself to understand different sounds and genres, the concert was a valuable learning experience.

“I enjoyed every part of it though it came with the frustration of making sure it sounded perfect. We had a lot of back and forths, a lot of editing, and having to start again. It was a tedious process and I was not used to that, so I would say that was the low. The high was hearing and seeing everything coming together. The orchestra, with the live performances and just seeing what we had created,” he told Daily Maverick.

The Red Bull-owned event is the first of its kind in South Africa.  Red Bull has held symphonics in other countries including the United States and Greece. The event was sold out with 1,100 attendees on both Saturday and Sunday. Attendees have been raving with positive reviews on social media and are now requesting another event at a larger venue.

Kabza alluded to this reality stating; “The reception from supporters has been amazing, I feel so honoured. I have also gotten a lot of requests for more, haha people want more! And if given a chance, without a doubt I would do it again.”

Ahead of the concert, Kabza released a 15-minute track featuring various artists titled Chant, which has already garnered more than 100K streams. It has been the number-one song on South Africa’s Spotify daily list for the past five days. The song pays homage to Kabza De Small and celebrates his remarkable contributions to the South African music scene. When asked about its significance and the future of Amapiano, he said:
“The intention was never for the song to be 15 minutes, everyone on the song brought their “A-Game” to the song, and it was hard to chop or cut verses so I decided to keep everyone and let the song be a spiritual story and journey. Amapiano is a genre that is here to stay, it’s a genre that has no bounds and the future can only be bigger and greater.”

Despite the event’s success, Pitse emphasised the need to take it global and called for more government support — not just for her and Kabza, but for the entire industry.

“Nothing like this exists anywhere. But to sustain it, we need government support — not just funding, but a mandate to invest in the arts. This would encourage artists to learn more, innovate, and take their work seriously, focusing on research rather than copy-pasting.”

Due to the unstable and unsustainable nature of her work as an artist, Pitse has balanced her career in architecture with her role as an orchestra conductor. She said this dual career provided financial stability and a fallback plan when her music work slowed down. DM