Boston-born, South Africa-raised twin brothers Banele and Bandile, the DJ duo comprising Major League DJz, recently performed their electrifying Balcony Mix following a dynamic set from the masterful DJ Mohogany, dubbed ‘NYC’s first Liberian DJ,’ that drew a large and energized crowd to Brooklyn venue Public Records.
Major League DJz and DJ Mohogany are part of a growing fellowship of international artists pioneering a new kind of sound called Amapiano, a subgenre of electronic dance music named after a Bantu language word loosely translating to ‘the pianos.’ The musical style, which exploded onto the global dance music scene via social media in 2019 from South Africa after incubating for nearly three years in the modest home studios of the post-Apartheid underground producers, draws influence from house music, lounge jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and other Africa-derived music genres that include Kwaito and Afrobeat.
Amapiano is rapidly commanding attention amongst global EDM audiences. Its swift global rise has been nothing short of commanding: streams of Amapiano music grew by nearly 600 percent over a two-year period and was poised to reach 1 billion streams last year according to data from music streaming platform Spotify.
If you missed Major League DJz in New York City, which also included an opening performance at Madison Square Garden for Black Coffee, you can catch them this December at the Sound Nightclub in Los Angeles. As a musical force poised to lead Amapiano’s newest roster of rising stars, it’s a show fans of international EDM will definitely not want to miss.
If you can’t catch them live, then you can stream their most recent album, Piano Republik (released March 2023): a joint collaboration with multi-Grammy-winning American recording artist Diplo’s Major Lazer EDM project.
