The history of “Xigaza” Music Part 3

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In 2025, and in previous years, “Xigaza” is a term used to describe electronic Xitsonga music.

What is Xigaza?

In Xitsonga, Xigaza means the way of the Gaza people.

Join us as we take a musical journey through history to understand the roots of the most popular Xitsonga genre currently in South Africa known as:

• Xigaza,
• Tiremix,
• Marimba,
• Ta le Gigini,
• Ta Makwhaya,
• Tsonga Electro,
• Shangaan Electro,
• Xigaza xa Ma2k, and many more…

Read more:

The history of “Xigaza” Music Part 2.

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Enters George Maluleke into the scene

It’s the 80s…

George Maluleke unknowingly originates what we call Xigaza today…

One day, George Maluleke, lead of the N’wanati Sisters; found himself in a fix, his backing vocalists didn’t show up for the session, forcing him to improvise. That moment gave birth to the first Xitsonga “remix” — a dance version built purely on the beat and bridge of the original song. This experiment became a defining feature of Xitsonga commercial traditional music. Every album soon followed this format of a ten original tracks and three dance remixes, often closing the record with infectious instrumentals that dominated weekend dance floors. These remix songs became the heartbeat of swiseveseve, the vibrant social dance scenes across the Transvaals as the soundtrack of the Gazankulu weekend, as it is today. Out of this wave rose the youth digitized Xitsonga traditional guitar sound and increased the BPM. This birthed the first a sub-genre of traditional music of the people of the homeland, known today as Xigaza music. This sound is associated with Matshwa Bemuda, Sam Sikiza, DJ Khwaya, Solly Makamu, Nozinja, Hangalasa, Peter Magolongondo, Russian Army, and Boti Ready to name a few.

Enters Hiphop Exigazeni

Today, Xigaza is the sound of ma2000, the generation born from the year 2000 onwards. But the youth and elders championing this name have little to no idea of its history. To them, the history doesn’t matter. It doesn’t fit their world. The word Xigaza means new age dance music to them.

Xigaza is the soundtrack of the modern Magaza, the great-grandchildren of the people of the Gazankulu homeland. They chose Gaza as a unifier instead of leaning into the Vatsonga-Machangani identity politics of their forefathers. Xigaza is lucrative and the no.1 genre etikweni. However, this wasn’t always the case. When the 2000s were born, Xigaza was just tavern music.

Worse, the 2000s came with the collapse of Traditional Music because of bootlegging. The whites downsized and packed up; they couldn’t keep up with fakes, but Xigaza artists were already using the bootleg network and the internet to distribute their music. Computers became easily available and Xigaza morphed into a genre produced by tavern DJs, who made exclusives to play and MC over wherever they rented their sound. Other DJs formed groups of clown dancers to entertain the crowd over their beats, the pioneer of this wave were DJ Khwaya and Tshetsha Boyz. Xigaza boomed, and Nozinja made millions producing CDs and DVDs of this street music. This run kept the genre alive as House Music, Kwaito, Hiphop, and Gospel did major numbers while traditional music turned into a self-funded passion project.

Then comes the late 2000s…

Our rappers were fighting to make Gaza rap pop since Hiphop was the dominant genre in South Africa at the time. However, the wave of native Hiphop came and went before they could catch traction, except for one person — Sho Madjozi. Though she did not brand her flow as Gaza rap, she led with our identity, and South Africa embraced her and us. This is when ti cheese boy ta ka Gaza saw an opening and jumped onto this wave but unlike her, they did not rap over Gqom beats; they went into other genres of house music, but nothing connected.

So, they took it home and plugged into the sound of the streets, Xigaza!

See, by the 2010s, Xigaza was giving Mindzhumba of Benny Mayengani, Mr. Post, Joe Shirimani, Prince Rhangani, and Dr. Sunglen Chabalala. However, during this time the major record labels still did not recognize it as lucrative. To them, it lacked the social status and substance of the likes of Dr. Thomas Chauke and Shinyori Sisters. It was music for drunks, produced by backroom producers who can’t compose a new melody other than the noise they call music. The majority of Xigaza artists were not talented; they were mostly working-class people who could afford studio time, and this puddled the value of Xigaza. The genre lacked artist development, songwriters, composers, marketing, and radio airplay compared to its competition. What chance did it stand? So, Xigaza artists organized themselves to perform and sell their music at traditional events, tikhomba, swiseveseve, taverns, and taxi ranks as everyone kept trying their luck at the dying traditional music market.

Then came COVID and TikTok

The emergence of COVID and Tiktok gave rise to Xigaza music and put it on the mainstream map. The music dominated social networks and the illegal party scenes. See, people wanted a good time to escape the shadow of death that had befallen the world. Xigaza became that, but it looked different to its previous forms. The sound was slowed down, the look was hiphop, and the lyrics were sing-alongs made for Tiktok videos while the name of this new wave became known as Xigaza xa ma2k. And that’s how we got here!

The New Age of Xigaza Music

The Xigaza of today is fairly a new wave with catalogue that is dominated by singles.

Unlike with traditional artist that are album focused and release once a year, the Xigaza cool kids put out music every month, and post one video on social media day promoting their song. They release albums to accumulate numbers to play the algorithm game which measures their relevance to the digital audience. See, their money isn’t from album sales and streams; it’s from brand deals and live performances. Xigaza is funded by local record labels, event organizers, and money launderers who own clubs, pubs, and taverns. Xigaza artists are social influencers who move crowds to buy tickets, alcohol, and book accommodation for leisure time.

However, that is not all that makes the Xigaza relevant and loved. Xigaza boosts local economies, it allows the general public to eat off it unlike mainstream genres that are sales driven but offer nothing in return for the support. In Xigaza, anyone with a plan can make money off it, whether as a food vendor, beat maker, sound hire, clothing designer, videographer, security, car rentals etc… This is the essence of a street culture.

Meet “The Super 12” of Xigaza Music

The New Age artists of Gaza are Hiphop. They even do gun signs. Competition is the nature of the beast. It’s about who is the best. And they pronounce it in their music that they are the alpha. But those are the cheese boys of the genre, their “cultured” counterparts dress their Xigaza in the latest fashion trends. Now, imagine the Xigaza music scene as a league of hits.

Read more:

The history of “Xigaza” Music Part 4.