Gqom A New Generation Of House Music From South Africa's Townships

South African house music has been making waves internationally for years, with the likes of Black Coffee doing the rounds on the international festival circuit and artists such as Nozinja getting snapped up by Warp Records. The latest sub-genre out of SA to get our attention is no different.

Shaking up an international audience

Gqom, which originally came out of the townships of Durban and made popular by the city’s taxi drivers blasting it out of their cars when taking clients to parties – just might be the most exciting type of SA house yet. It’s most famous creators including DJ Lag, Babes Wodumo (the ‘queen of gqom’ in a male-dominated scene) and RudeBoyz, gqom gets its name from the Zulu word for hit or noise. This is pretty descriptive of the genre’s vibe – raw, reductionist, grimy and underground. Although its sound is completely distinct, parallels have been drawn with UK grime – which might be part of the reason for its popularity in countries like Britain. It’s actually the case that many South African house DJs are far more famous outside of their country – to the point where a Londoner might be more likely to know about gqom than a South African city dweller who isn’t part of the scene.

The sound of gqom becomes all the more interesting when you look at the inspiration behind it and the social setting in which it was born. While South Africa is often considered the ‘big dog’ of the continent when it comes to economic and cultural output, the townships where the likes of gqom started are a world away from this. Inspired by feelings of anger about the lack of opportunities for young people and their exclusion from the country’s development, these musicians turned to the internet to rebel and get their sound heard by the world – and we’re really glad they did.

Check out these South Africans on Instagram busting moves to gqom here.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.