Radio legend DJ Fresh joins Kaunda Selisho on 'The Lifestyle Scene' podcast, unpacking Kaya 959, 30 years in radio and Amapiano's global takeover.
This week, The Lifestyle Scene turns its attention to amapiano’s rise from the townships of Gauteng to global stages – and asks who’s actually steering that journey.
A genre that started as a slow-tempo, log-drum-driven offshoot of deep house and kwaito is now soundtracking TikToks continents away and headlining international festivals.
By 2026, the #Amapiano hashtag has racked up more than 10 billion TikTok views, Spotify Africa has logged a streaming surge of more than 5 600% since 2018, and the sound recently earned its own dedicated stage at Afro Nation 2026 in Portugal – no longer borrowing a slot next to Afrobeats headliners, but running parallel to them.
Global ambassadors like Tyla and Uncle Waffles have carried amapiano into Top 40 radio and Ibiza residencies, and the moment reads, on the surface, like a straightforward win for South African music.
To unpack all of this, we’re joined by DJ Fresh – Thato Sikwane – a broadcaster with over three decades of influence across South African radio, TV, music and digital media.
Having shaped mornings at YFM, 5FM and Metro FM, stepped into digital ventures and podcasting, and recently returned to appointment radio hosting Kaya 959’s breakfast show (reuniting with long-time collaborators Thato Mataboge and Mpho Maboi in what he’s called a 20-year-in-the-making reunion).
Fresh brings a rare vantage point: someone who has spent his career reading exactly the kind of cultural shift amapiano is going through now.
The conversation moves between two threads – his own relationship with radio and audiences across a career of reinvention, and the bigger question hanging over amapiano itself: is this global spotlight a genuine celebration of South African music, or a slow erosion of who controls its story?
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The Lifestyle Scene Podcast Host: Kaunda Selisho
Podcast Producer: Kaunda Selisho
Director, Editor, Engineer: Shaun Holland
Production Assistant, Second Camera: Caslian Scott
