Pics! Aymos Celebrates ‘Fatela’ As It Hits Major Milestone. Born Amos Babili Shili, in the Joburg township of Thembisa (formerly Tembisa), the 24-year-old musician has been trying to break into the music industry for years. After introducing music at his high school and achieving some success with the school’s choir, he started being a sessionist and vocalist for local house deejays while releasing his own music, to not much acclaim. He was on the brink of giving up on music when Mas Musiq came to his house to ask for the “Zaka” vocals after discovering the song on YouTube.
Aymos and Ami Faku teamed up to release their hit single ‘Fatela’. They also dropped the music video some time early this year. The dramatic and chaotic opening for the music video immediately captures attention, and force the viewer to anticipate what happens next. The visuals evoke emotions of regret, sympathy, distress as well as relief towards the end. The back story within the video provides context, making the storyline very interesting. The lyrics of the song align with the music video, making it more heartfelt and relatable. Aymos’ single featuring Ami Faku ‘Fatela’ has now gone platinum, and this is a huge milestone for the star.
At first, he didn’t like amapiano and the idea of his song getting remixed, but he quickly realised he had nothing to lose. “Within three hours after I had handed the vocals to him, the song was already all over Instagram. People were crazy about it,” Aymos remembers. “But the thing is, I was so annoyed at that time and I thought these guys have ruined my song, I couldn’t even follow my own lyrics because it was so fast.”
After seeing the response from fans and how much they liked the amapiano version, Aymos figured that he could bring something different to the genre—he set out to “add the soul, bring meaningful lyrics with a message onto amapiano beats.”
This sentiment is often evident and is echoed in his music, songs like “Bambelela”, “Ub’Ukhona” and “Bathethelele”, speak on perseverance, gratitude and forgiveness; with an underlying spirituality theme, which is uncommon ground in most amapiano songs. The timbre of Aymos’ voice and his songwriting ability add a harmonious texture to dance music.
