Mix It Up: UK artists link up with amapiano stars to create four bold tracks

Nando’s is keeping things spicy this summer with its Mix It Up project, seeing four UK artists join forces with South African amapiano producers on a brand new, Extra Extra Hot EP. Bru-C, BERWYN, M1llionz and Miraa May are all on the menu and their creations feature on an EP released via the non-profit organisation Bridges For Music.

London and Johannesburg might be 8,000 miles apart, but the city’s music scenes go together like two chicken and PERI-PERI. For Nando’s Mix It Up Series, we’ve asked the undisputed kings of amapiano, Major League DJz, to help bring these two cultures together. “A celebration of two scenes trialled and tested in London and taken worldwide,” said the South African brothers and recent Mixmag cover stars.

Read this next: Miraa May: "The impact that South African music is having in the world is mighty"

We brought together four UK artists; Miraa May, Bru-C, BERWYN, and M1llionz, and four amapiano producers; Tumza, TO Starquality, MDU aka TRP, and BL Zero, to create four unique new tracks. With the help of two South African songwriters, Aymos and Basetsana, and singer-songwriter Jackie Queens, these 11 artists spent some time between Nando’s Flame Studios in Johannesburg and Nando's Soho studios in London to fuse these two cities together sonically.

“I definitely didn’t expect it when I walked into Flame Studios, it’s something mesmerising and something fresh. Everyone is a good person and has a really great heart, and they want to see creativity flourish in this space which is just amazing, it’s a beautiful environment to come into and to work in,” says Jackie Queens on the project.

Between all 11 musicians, four new tracks have been created and put together on an EP set for release via Bridges For Music, a non-profit organisation empowering young creatives and under-served communities through music. To celebrate, Major League DJz even hosted their own amapiano party at Nando’s Greenwich - Cutty Sark.

Read this next: Bru-C: "Amapiano is not just a sound, it's a whole lifestyle"

“Genres die out, just like subgenres like grime and garage. You have to do these crossovers otherwise it’s gonna get boring,” says M1llionz. “It can deffo bring life to people’s situations and just help them with what they’re going through because all music does that. Especially this, because it’s lively and jumpy.”

Watch a short film documenting the creation of these four new 'Mix It Up' tracks below, shot between London and Johannesburg, and listen to the EP here.