While amapiano incorporates elements of jazz and kwaito, perhaps its primary influence stems from the house scenes of Pretoria. As the underground sounds that permeated townships like Atteridgeville and Soshanguve with hard-hitting 120 BPM percussion, piercing synths and snares, and quintessentially South African call-and-response vocals, styles such as bacardi house—made popular by the likes of DJ Spoko, DJ Mujava, and DJ Nyiko—set dance floors alight and created fertile ground for the eventual rise of amapiano. Many of amapiano’s biggest stars credit their Pitori upbringing for shaping their sound, and they bring that inspiration to ‘New Age bacardi’ that bridges the two scenes and reimagines bacardi sounds in new ways. Tsa Ko Pitori is where you’ll find the most innovative tracks coming out of Pretoria—by the artists at the forefront of the evolution of amapiano and South African house.