Rocking Out to Afro-Pop Music!

Musings from Mothershiester: When I was living in Johannesburg, six years ago, my appreciation for music from the continent was born. Even though I grew up listening to music from Kenya, I associated that music with my parents and a country that I didn't want to be connected to. Now that I djay music for other people, I really want to share my love of the various beats that make my continent so hot. Case in point, the South African band that made my knees weak with energy when I first heard them--Mafikizolo . Their music is a blend of Afro-pop, kwela (a genre of southern african music that sounds sort of jazzy and is characterized by the pennywhistle--a six-holed wood wind whistle), marabi (indigenous to South Africa, and also has a jazzy sound like kwela but includes the use of the organs). Mafikizola's style is definitely a blend of the traditional with the new pop beats that we are so accustomed to. If I'm ever on the run, from the law or fighting to survive the apocalypse, I hope to have my Mafikizolo tape in tact....Hell, I'm already fighting to survive the apocalypse.

Here's a video of one of my fav songs by them. Keep an eye for the butch that is representing for us gender and sexual variants.

Hey, get out of your chair and dance!

dance tutorial

at gender fatigue we like to dance to many kinds of music and we like to know what the music is and the history behind it - who made it, where is it from, why did they do it, what is it connected to, that sort of thing. so apparently this year marks 20 years since house music got big in the UK and one blog reposted an interesting article from 1989 about house music and its roots and backing from black gay cultures in the US: The House the Kids Built
(altho in dc it would be called "The House the Children Built")

that blog, History is Made at Night, is pretty interesting to check out in general in addition to that post. another blog (fem.men.ist) has an interesting and related post on house music, masculinity and race: Thoughts on Jamaica, Masculinity, Performing Gender, Orishas and House Music

And a classic song with lots to consider regarding history, culture and race, gender and more... all while rocking out!




[George Kranz "Trommeltanz" aka Din Daa Daa]

dance tutorial

this will be a recurring feature on gender fatigue:
we find it really important to dance, and we often try to do that on our show as well as every day of our lives. so here is a photo to remind you good ways to dance!
all identities protected of course, including of secret dance operatives djs bj, ry-ry, bent and rat.
photo credit: dj trash formerly known as dj food sometimes known as 1/2 of choque y fuga