Ghanaian singer, Efya claims that she started the Amapiano music genre after she released music with Wizkid’s official disk jockey, DJ Tunez.
She revealed this while featuring as a guest on the latest episode of the Afrobeats Podcast hosted by Adesope.
According to her, she and DJ Tunez started the Amapiano trend in 2019.
Over the years the origination of the genre has been credited to South Africa as to where the genre first began. However, Jane Afia Awindor, Efya’s real name does not seem to think so.
“I would say Tunez, and I started the Amapiano thing when we did that first tape in 2019. Before Covid, Tunez and I started making that kind of sound and then we kept going, then South Africans. There have been so many things I’ve been involved in,” she said.
Reacting to the claim, MFR Souls co-founder, Maero said, “There is no way this lady started Amapiano. Maybe she wants to get fame, but there’s no way. People know where Amapiano is from and it’s here in South Africa.”
“Amapiano is a mix of kwaito and deep house, and kwaito is a South African genre. And even the origins of kwaito are from South Africa. So, as I said, there’s no way a Ghanaian musician came up with Amapiano,” said.
“When we started the genre didn’t have a name because it wasn’t a familiar sound. It just was keys and no vocals and then people started calling Amapiano,” Efya said while speaking to Adesope.
