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South African Lofi

Lofi is a music genre that emerged in the 1950’s and became recognized in the 1980’s, it is a variant of chill-out music and slacker rock. The most notable traits of Lofi include distortion, hum, background noise, or limited frequency response. In South Africa, a variation of lofi is called Lofi house, and it is typically at a slower tempo than other styles of house music. Lofi house has a distinctive manner in which the lyrics are sung and the sound is tagged as singing, dry, loop, and melody.

Etymology

The term Lo-fi refers to Low Fidelity, the opposite of hi-fi. Historically, the prescriptions of "lo-fi" have been relative to music quality that uses elements that are regarded as poor sound quality or imperfections in the context of recording and performance. In the 1976 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary  added lo-fi under the definition of "sound production less good in quality than 'hi-fi'" .

Lo-fi became popular in the 1980’s whereby qualities such as "home-recorded", "technically primitive", and "inexpensive equipment" were commonly associated with the "lo-fi" label. Consequently, in 2003, another definition was added by Oxford Dictionary for the term—"a genre of rock music characterized by minimal production, giving a raw and unsophisticated sound". In 2008, another definition was added: "unpolished, amateurish, or technologically unsophisticated, especially as a deliberate aesthetic choice.

Characteristics

This genre of music is a mixture of  downtempo boom bap beats and jazz, along with a variety of cuts from anime. Lofi genres capture the nostaligic sounds of cassettes and vinyls. Today in South Africa, lofi is combined with African beats and house music as well a loose affiliation of popular music that draws on African and Western music. The lofi sound is known for being a type of sound recording that contains technical flaws that make the recording sound different as opposed to live sound being recorded. It usually helps listeners with relaxation, meditation, background music or to help study and focus.

Artists in South African Lofi

Various artists have influenced Lofi in South Africa. Their music is classified under the category of dance and electronic as well as deep house. The genre of South African Lofi was made popular by artists such as Dragonfly, A-type, Lyze Damon, Amakipkip and toxic wolf. These artists are best known for their album “Lofi House” that was released in 2021.

Lofi platforms

The latest South African Lofi tracks, albums and  playlists can be streamed on desktop and mobile. They can also be downloaded or purchased on the following platforms:

·        Spotify

·        Deezer

·        Apple music

References

Category:Music of South Africa