Diplo's Major Lazer & Major League Djz Share 'Piano Republik' Remixes

Emerging South African superstars Major League Djz and Major Lazer unveil the official Piano Republik remixes, featuring previously shared reworks by Jayda G, Jacques Green, Jyoty and Joy Orbison and a new Ape Drums remix of “Oh Yeah” with Ty Dolla $ign.

Major League Djz and Major Lazer’s collaborative amapiano album Piano Republik was released earlier this year to critical acclaim via Mad Decent/Because, featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Channel Tres, Nigerian stars Joeboy and Tiwa Savage, DJ Maphorisa and more.

“Africa is the center of musical energy for the whole world right now, and amapiano is easily one of the most exciting things happening,” says Walshy Fire of Major Lazer. “It’s blown up all over the continent, but it all started in South Africa, and Major League Djz are in the middle of everything. As soon as we got to experience their movement in real life, we knew we just had to collaborate.”

The music on Piano Republik falls under the genre of amapiano, a South African style of house music that emerged in 2012 and is descended from the South African house genres, kwaito and Afrobeats. Pioneered largely by Major League Djz, amapiano is a hybrid of deep house, jazz and lounge music characterized by synths, airy pads and wide percussive basslines and is currently topping charts in the U.K. and beyond.

The BET-nominated amapiano duo Major League Djz—twin brothers Bandile and Banele Mbere—have quickly risen to international visibility as stars of the South African dance music scene, serving as pioneers of the genre and de facto global ambassadors with hits like “Bakwa Lah” and “Dinaledi.”

Since the release of their critically acclaimed album from 2021, Outside, they have gone on to break the world record for the longest DJ set performed by a duo, performing for 75 hours for a special edition of their Balcony Mix Xperience.

Last year, they performed at Coachella alongside Black Coffee and sold-out a headline show at the O2 Academy Brixton. This summer, Major League Djz will be the first amapiano act to debut a massive London residency at new venue at Outernet, playing and curating exciting lineups every Saturday in June.

With fans and supporters including TEMS, Burna Boy, Honey Dijon, Jorja Smith, Rema, Asake, Stefflon Don and Jayda G regularly attending their parties in South Africa, Ghana and beyond, they're now poised to take the world by storm.

Major Lazer is the global dance trio of Diplo, Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. Named for the group’s fictional figurehead, a one-armed Jamaican Zombie War commando, Major Lazer’s mission is to free the universe with music.

The band has released four acclaimed albums, 2009’s Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do, 2013’s Free The Universe, 2015’s Peace Is The Mission, featuring the Diamond-certified “Lean On” with DJ Snake and MØ—one of the most successful songs of all time—and 2020’s Music Is The Weapon, which features songs in five languages and collaborations with Nicki Minaj, J Balvin, Marcus Mumford, Khalid, Alessia Cara, Anitta, Paloma Mami, Busy Signal, BEAM, Shenseea, Nucleya and more.

MAJOR LAZER LIVE

September 3—New York, NY—Electric Zoo
September 30—San Francisco, CA—Portola*
November 17—Las Vegas, NV—MSG Sphere Stage
November 30—Las Vegas, NV—AWS re: PLAY
* b2b with Major League Djz

Photo credit: Joe Larkin

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