South Africa, Jan. 14 -- If you had asked me in early 2020 why Amapiano would soon become the heartbeat, not only of South Africa but of the world, I couldn't have given you a streetwise academic answer.

But looking back now, through the smoke of the pandemic, economic downturns, global lockdowns, and even festive-season bottle caps, what becomes clear is this: we didn't just make a genre, we made a refuge.

I want to give this cultural story its own term: "Econo-Groove."

Not just music tied to markets or monetisation, but music that emerges from emotional economic pressure, a soundtrack born not despite hardship, but because of it.

Econo-Groove: The sound of collective escape

We hear it described in global music discussions as recess...