Welcome to the Culture Corner, a column written by our culture team, in which they delve deeper into people, topics and ideas within the zeitgeist that they just cannot get out of their heads.
In this week's column, our Culture writer, Nomathamsanqa Sithathu, looks at some of the best local music that has been released this year, so far.
South African music in 2026 has continued to move in several directions at once.
Amapiano remains one of the country’s most influential exports, however, some of the most interesting albums released this year have come from artists who cannot be defined by one genre. Some are even taking familiar sounds and reshaping them around their own identities.
The four albums that stood out so far this year are not necessarily connected by a single sound. Rather, their differences are part of what makes them worth paying attention to.
In no particular order, Thabo Smol’s “Dithupa Tsa Smol”, Thando Zide’s “Ku Ngawe”, The Big Hash, SLY and Kabza De Small’s “Love Is A Star”, and Umzulu Phaqa’s “Volume 1” each offer a different interpretation of what South African music sounds like in 2026.
Thabo Smol: Dithupa Tsa Smol
This album makes you appreciate just how much space there is within South African music when artists are willing to look beyond the sounds audiences have become accustomed to hearing.
Known largely through his work with Black Motion and the house music scene, Smol took a noticeably different route on this project, drawing from jazz, world music and the musical heritage of Tshwane.
What makes the album refreshing is not simply that it sounds different from the amapiano-heavy landscape, but that it sounds like a genuine exploration of music.
The 28-song project gives the music room to breathe and allows different influences to exist alongside one another. It also speaks to South Africa’s wider musical history, which has always been broader than whichever genre happens to dominate the current conversation.
Thando Zide: Ku Ngawe
Zide’s strength as an artist lies in how distinctly her own voice comes through the R&B and Afro-soul influences that shape “Ku Ngawe”.
There are plenty of artists making music within those spaces, but Zide does not sound like an imitation of an artist who came before her, nor does she appear to be chasing the sound of whoever happens to be dominating the charts.
That is especially apparent in the way she writes and expresses emotion in isiZulu. Her songwriting feels personal, with thought behind the way she approaches love, relationships, identity and the experiences she is trying to communicate.
The use of isiZulu gives those emotions an additional layer of meaning, while the R&B and Afro-soul influences remain secondary to the strongest defining feature of the album: Zide herself.
The Big Hash, SLY and Kabza De Small: Love Is A Star
The collaboration between The Big Hash, SLY and Kabza De Small is one of the more unexpected combinations on this year’s local album landscape, but “Love Is A Star” works because the three artists do not approach the project as though they need to establish which genre owns it.
The Big Hash comes from a hip-hop background, while De Small is one of the central figures in amapiano and SLY brings another dimension to the production. The album carries the influence of amapiano, but it is not simply an amapiano album with a rapper placed over the top.
The Big Hash’s willingness to lean into his vocals is one of the project’s strongest features. His ability to rap has never been in question, but “Love Is A Star” gives more space to the side of his artistry that involves singing and melody.
“I’m proud to be part of something as magical as this because it goes to show that creativity will never die and it’ll always find a way to renew itself or to revive itself in different ways, shapes or forms.
“I feel like people can actually truly recognise that I don’t just make rap music or R&B music. Even with this new sound, I feel like it will solidify me as somebody who is a jack of all trades, as somebody who is able to step out of their comfort zone and really swing for the fences and not be too afraid of reaching for the stars and trying something new, being something new,” The Big Hash on his contribution to the project.
Umzulu Phaqa: Volume 1
Umzulu Phaqa’s project is perhaps the clearest example in this selection of an artist using music to establish her own definition of what contemporary South African pop can be.
Born Sphiwe Moya, the Afro-fusion and Zulu pop singer returned to music after stepping away from the industry and questioning whether she still had a place in it.
What makes “Volume 1” particularly interesting is the way the singer approaches Zulu pop. The album brings the isiZulu language into a contemporary pop setting while making room for subjects including love, resilience, infidelity, uncertainty and the realities of everyday life.
The album does not place language and heritage as decorative elements. They are central to the project and to how Phaqa understands her place within a changing South African music industry.
“Volume 1” is built around her own language, experiences and instincts, while making room for different influences and the lane she has chosen for herself as an artist.
How South African music is evolving according to industry experts
Music industry professional and founder of You Are My Sunday (Yams), Bridget Pike, believes this freedom is one of the most significant creative shifts in South African music right now.
“I think music in general is at a point where almost anything feels possible, and that is what makes this moment so exciting,” she said.
Pike said there is less need for artists to fit neatly into one genre and more freedom to pull from different influences and make something that feels personal. Looking at these projects, she shared there is a similar confidence in the way the artists approach genre.
“You are hearing jazz, soul, R&B, hip-hop, amapiano, pop and older South African sounds sitting alongside each other without feeling forced.”
She also believes the album format itself has become more open. There does not seem to be one rule about what an album has to be, whether it is something as expansive as “Dithupa Tsa Smol” or shorter and more focused like “Volume 1”.
“For me, that is where we are right now: artists are giving themselves more freedom to decide what a project should sound like, how long it should be and who it can speak to.”
That freedom also speaks to how the idea of a distinctly South African sound is changing. Pike believes the idea is becoming broader.
“For me, being South African in music does not necessarily mean that you have to use one particular sound or stay within one genre. It can come through in the language, the rhythm, the way someone tells a story, the references they use or simply the feeling of the music.”
She added that South African artists have always been good at taking different influences and making them their own, but what feels different now is how confident artists are about doing it.
While creative freedom may be shaping how artists approach music, the question of what makes an album matter beyond its release cycle is a different one.
Founder of Scorpion Records SA, Tumelo Ruele, said commercial success and cultural significance are not necessarily the same thing.
“Streaming tells you who won the weekend. Culture tells you who will be sung at weddings ten years from now,” he said.
For Ruele, three things determine whether an album has lasting impact: lineage, craft and ownership, and its ability to move beyond the headphones and into the community.
He believes an album should carry something of where an artist comes from, whether that is their language, family, hometown, church or personal history.
“If I can’t hear your Vaal, your Limpopo, your church, your mother’s prayer, it’s content, (that's) not an album,” he said.
He also stresses the importance of recognising the craft and ownership behind a project, including the engineers, producers and people who own the masters. But ultimately, he believes music has to live beyond streaming platforms.
“South Africans test music live, in the taxi, at the groove, at the funeral,” he concluded.
culture_thenational@nationalmg.co.za