They Were on a “Holiday”, But They’re Back: popartlive Return After 10 Years

Ten years ago, popartlive was created in a small studio at the back of a house in the east of Joburg, in an area locals know as the ‘Vale’.

In their twenties, Martin Kabamba and Riccardo Amatucci were two young guys from Joburg with a dream and a shared passion for music, with no idea where it would take them. Like a piece of art slowly coming to life, every beat, late night and moment behind the decks added another stroke to the picture.

Soon, those late nights turned into gigs, gigs into bigger stages, and before long, the two were playing festival crowds at Rocking the Daisies, Oppikoppi and Ultra South Africa, while their music found its way onto radio and into South Africa’s electronic music scene.

If Pop Art is known for its bold colours, unexpected combinations and ability to turn the everyday into something larger than life, perhaps it is fitting that the duo behind popartlive have always been built on contrast.

Martin is the performer, the voice and the personality that commands the room. Riccardo is the quieter force behind the music, the mind in the studio shaping the sound. One brings the energy to the front of the room, the other builds the world behind it. Different in their approach, but connected by the same instinct to create.

Together, they built something that became bigger than the little studio where it started. But, like any good story, there comes a point when one chapter has to end. After years of creating, performing and building popartlive, Riccardo and Martin eventually went their separate ways, choosing to pursue their own lives and careers in different parts of the world. Martin eventually made his way to London, while Riccardo settled in Amsterdam.

But the music didn’t stop. Even with the duo no longer together, their songs continued to find their way onto South African dance floors, with clubs and DJs keeping the music alive long after Riccardo and Martin had stepped away. Time passed, they grew, changed and built lives of their own. And yet, somewhere along the way, they found themselves drawn back to the one thing that had brought them together in the first place.

The reunion wasn’t about recreating the past. It was about recognising that, after years apart, there was still something worth creating together and that their music still had a place in the world.

“You don’t really understand what something means to you until you’ve had to live without it,” says Martin. “Ten years is a long time. We’ve both changed, but when we started talking about music again, there was still that same feeling. It felt natural.”

For the duo, coming back together has meant approaching the music with a very different perspective.

“We’ve both lived a lot during our time apart, and that has changed the way we approach music. When we started, we were always trying to prove something. Now, we care more about how the music feels. We want it to be honest, uncomplicated and full of life. Music that doesn’t need to be explained, you just turn it up and stay in the moment,” shares Riccardo.

Now, with the duo back together, that contrast remains, but so does the evolution that came with time apart. Their music is made for the good moments. For falling in love and being in love with life. For dancing with your friends, driving with the windows down, hearing a song at exactly the right moment and forgetting about everything else for a few minutes. It is love without the complications. Music that is easy, honest and joyful, with one simple ambition: to make people feel good.

The first chapter of that return is “Holiday”, the re-release of a track from the duo’s earlier era. More than a throwback, the song becomes a bridge between where began and where they are going next, giving those who remember them a reason to press play again while introducing a new generation to their sound.

Now based in London and Amsterdam, Martin and Riccardo are taking their South African roots and their music to audiences around the world. The goal isn’t simply to bring popartlive back, but to see how far the music they started making in that little studio in the Vale can travel. From South African festival fields to European cities and whatever dance floor comes next, popartlive are ready to find out.

The holiday is over.

Popartlive are back. “Holiday” is available now. Listen to “Holiday” on Spotify