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Rythym In Ex i l e

Rodwel l Mabuwa

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A Br

utal

Sys

tem

South Africa is a Sub Saharan country blessed with an abundance of natural resources includ-ing fertile farmlands and unique mineral resources. South African mines are world leaders in the production of diamonds and gold as well as strategic metals such as platinum. The English and Dutch colonized South Africa in the seventeenth century. English domination of the Dutch

descendants (known as Boers or Afrikaners) resulted in the Dutch establishing the new colonies of Orange Free State and Transvaal. The discovery of diamonds in these lands around 1900 resulted in an English invasion which sparked the Boer War. Following independence from England, an uneasy power-sharing between the two groups held until the 1940’s, when the Afrikaner National Party was able to gain a strong majority. Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to ce-ment their control over the economic and social system. Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation. Starting in the 60’s, a plan of ``Grand Apartheid’’ was executed, emphasizing territorial separation and police repression.

With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948, racial discrimination was institutionalized. Race laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of “white-only” jobs. In 1950, the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed race). The coloured category included major subgroups of Indians and Asians. Classifica-tion into these categories was based on appearance, social acceptance, and descent. For example, a white person was defined as “in appearance obviously a white person or generally accepted as a white person.” A person could not be considered white if one of his or her parents were non-white.

apart·heid (a -pärtht, -ht) n.

1. An off icialpolicy of racial segregation formerly practiced in the Republic of South Africa, involving political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites.2. A policy or practice of separating or segregating groups.3. The condition of being separated from others; segregation.

icial

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The determination that a person was “obviously white” would take into ac-count his habits, education, speech and demeanor. A black person would be of or accepted as a member of an African tribe or race, and a colored person is one that is not black or white. The Department of Home Affairs

(a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. Non-compliance with the race laws were dealt with harshly. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books’’ containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas.

In 1951, the Bantu Authorities Act established a basis for ethnic government in African reserves, known as “homelands.” These homelands were independent states to which each African was assigned by the government according to the re-cord of origin (which was frequently inaccurate). All political rights, including voting, held by an African were restricted to the designated homeland. The idea was that they would be citizens of the homeland, losing their citizenship in South Africa and any right of involvement with the South African Parliament which held complete hegemony over the homelands. From 1976 to 1981, four of these homelands were created, denationalizing nine million South Africans. The homeland admin-istrations refused the nominal independence, maintaining pressure for political rights within the country as a whole. Nevertheless, Africans living in the home-lands needed passports to enter South Africa: aliens in their own country.In 1953, the Public Safety Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act were passed, which empowered the government to declare stringent states of emergency and increased penalties for protesting against or supporting the repeal of a law. The penalties included fines, imprisonment and whippings.

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Stru

ggle

Aga

inst A

parth

eid

Nelson Mandela was the most popular figure in the fight against Apartheid, he was sentenced to life in prison for treason in 1963 and served 27 years.

In 1912 the South African Native National Congress was founded by a group of black urban and traditional leaders who opposed the policies of the first Union of South Africa government, especially laws that appropriated African land. In 1923 the organization was renamed the African National Congress (ANC). At

first its main agenda was to protect voting rights for blacks in the Cape Province. For nearly 50 years it pursued a policy of peaceful protests and petitions.

During the 1950s, while the South African government passed and implemented oppressive apartheid laws, black South Africans responded by intensifying their political opposition. The ANC dramatically increased its membership under the leadership of Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela became one of the organization’s principal organizers. Although the membership of the ANC was largely black, it was a multiracial organization with white and Asian members, some of whom as-sumed leadership positions.

After decades of receiving no response to demands for justice and equality, the ANC launched the Defiance Against Unjust Laws Campaign in 1952, in coopera-tion with the South African Indian Congress, an Asian antiapartheid political or-ganization. The campaign was a nonviolent one in which apartheid laws were de-liberately broken. After several months of civil disobedience and 8,000 arrests, rioting broke out in a number of cities, which resulted in considerable property damage and 40 deaths. Black protest and white repression continued. In 1956 three black women were killed when thousands of them confronted the police because of their inclusion under amended pass laws, which had previously applied only to black men.

We are not anti-white, we are against white suprem-acy we have condemned racialism no matter by whom it is professed.”

Nelson Mandela, defence statement during the Treason Trial, 1961.

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From the 17th to the 20th centuries, Robben Island served as a place of banishment, isolation and imprisonment. Several political activists including Nelson Mandela were sent to this notorius island which is situated 6.9 kilometers off the coast of Cape Town.

Despite the ANC’s increasing militancy, its aims were still reformist, seeking to change the existing system, rather than revolutionary. In 1955 the ANC brought together nearly 3,000 delegates of all races in Kliptown in the Transvaal to adopt the Freedom Charter. This remark-able document, which affirms that South Africa belongs to all its people, remains to this day

the clearest statement of the guiding principles of the ANC. It emphasizes that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people and the people in South Africa had been robbed of their birthrights to land, liberty, and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality. It stated that, “Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and stand as candidates for all bodies which make laws.”

In 1958 Robert Sobukwe left the ANC; he founded the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) in April 1959. The PAC insisted on a militant strategy based exclusively on black support in contrast to the ANC’s mul-tiracial approach. Black attitudes toward the liberation process changed dramatically after the Sharp-eville Massacre on March 21, 1960. White police opened fire on a mass demonstration organized by the PAC, killing 69 blacks and wounding more than 180. The Sharpeville Massacre led to violence and protests throughout the country. The government declared a state of emergency and arrested many members of the PAC and the ANC. In April 1960 the PAC and ANC were banned.

In 1961, in response to the government’s actions, the ANC organized Umkhonto we Sizwe (Zulu for “Spear of the Nation”) to conduct an armed struggle against the regime. On December 16, 1961, when Afrikaners were commemorating the Battle of Blood River, Umkhonto’s first act of sabotage took place.

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People in Sharpeville, South Africa, commemorate the Sharpeville Massacre that occurred March 21, 1960.

From its inception, however, the underground organization refused to engage in terrorism against civilians and only attacked symbolic targets, police stations, military offices, and other government buildings. The PAC’s military wing, in contrast, attacked white civilians.On a trip to several other African countries in 1962, Nelson Mandela arranged for ANC

recruits to undergo military training abroad. The South African government, concerned with the potential of Umkhonto to cause increased unrest, passed new legislation that gave the police broad powers of arrest without warrant. In July 1963 police raided Umkhonto’s secret head-quarters in the Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia and arrested most of its leadership. Mandela, who was already in prison at the time, was put on trial with the other Umkhonto leaders, all of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment. With the imprisonment of the nationalist leadership and the earlier banning of the ANC and PAC, South Africa entered a decade of enforced calm.

The government held a referendum in October 1960 to decide whether South Africa should become a republic and on May 31, 1961, the country officially became the Republic of South Africa. In addition, it chose to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations before it was forced to leave because of apartheid policies. The government continued to implement repressive leg-islation. A 1963 act provided for detention of up to 90 days without trial for the purpose of interrogating anyone even suspected of having committed or intending to commit sabotage or any offense under the Suppression of Communism Act or the Unlawful Organizations Act. The Terrorism Act, passed in 1967, provided for the indefinite detention without trial of suspected terrorists or persons in possession of information about terrorist activities.

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:*

He walked to the gal-lows rebeliously sing-ing his song “Nantsi Ndodemnyama Ver-woerd”.

Vuyi

sile M

ini

The Trade Union Leader Vuyisile Mini wrote a song called “Ndodemnyama” after the 1948 rise of Hendrick Verwoerd’s National Party. Mini, born in 1920 in Port Elizabeth, was a member of the African National Congress, and was one of the 150 people arrested for treason and detained during a lengthy trial alongside

Nelson Mandela in 1956. After his eventual release Mini organised many anti-apart-heid meetings and rallies and devoted his life to political activism. During his work for the ANC, Mini, an accomplished singer with a powerful bass voice, wrote many free-dom songs to encourage black people to strive for equality and liberation. In Ndodemn-yama, Mini is warning Verwoerd that one day he will get his comeuppance. The song is a defiant message to the oppressive government and is described by Thandi Modise, former anti-apartheid activist and later a member of the South African parliament, as the song people sang when they “really wanted to make the boers [white people] mad” (see Thandi Modise, in Lee Hirsch: Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, Kwela Productions, 2002, Ch.2.)

In 1963, Mini and two of his ANC colleagues were arrested for their activities and, because they refused to give evidence against their friends, they were sentenced to death by hanging. On 6th November 1964, Vuyisile Mini walked to the gallows defi-antly singing his song “Nantsi Ndodemnyama Verwoerd”. The lyrics say “Beware Ver-woerd, here are the black people!”. As he and his fellow activists walked through the jail to their execution, the other prisoners took up the song. The song became the most popular song of the struggle and was later covered by Mirriam Makeba. Mini’s body was exhumed from rebbeca Street cemetry in Pretoria in 1998 and he was given a heroes funeral in Port Elizabeth.

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For every song, there was pain, for every tune there was joy and heartbreak as South Africans at home and abroad sought solace and encouragement.

Mus

ic A

nd Th

e St

rugg

le

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The

Exod

us O

f Arti

stsex·ile (gzl, ksl) n.

1 a. Enforced removal from one’s native country.b. Self-imposed absence from one’s coun-try.2. The condition or a period of living away from one’s native country.3. One who lives away from one’s native country, whether because of expulsion or voluntary absence.

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Born on 4 March 1932 in Johannesburg, South Africa,Mirriam entered a talent show at a missionary school and walked off with the first prize. She was often invited to sing at weddings, and her popularity grew in leaps and bounds as more and more people became dazzled by her tal-

ent. In 1952 she was chosen to sing for The Manhattan Brothers and toured South Africa with them. As early as 1956, she wrote and released the song “Pata Pata”.Miriam found herself at a crossroad in her life in 1958. She had to choose between staying in South Africa and continue touring, or leaving for London to find international stardom. She chose the latter and her path soon crossed that of the American singer, Harry Belafonte who encouraged her to move to the United States of America.

Miriam Makeba made her US debut in November 1959 on The Steve Allen Show. She was a huge hit and soon after starred in the jazz musical, King Kong. In 1959 Miriam won a Grammy Award for the album “An Evening With Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba”. Miriam became an exile in 1960 when South Africa banned her from returning to her birth country, she was deemed to be too dangerous and revolutionary, this was after she had appeared in an anti-apartheid documen-tary, entitled “Come Back Africa”, and this upset the then white apartheid govern-ment of South Africa. Miriam only returned to South Africa thirty years later. In 1967, more than ten years after she wrote the song, “Pata Pata” was released in the United States and became a world-wide hit.

Everybody now admits that apart-heid was wrong, and all I did was tell the people who wanted to know where I come from how we lived in South Africa. I just told the world the truth. And if my truth then be-comes political, I can’t do anything about that.”

Mirri

am

Ma

keba

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The high points will be my travels: my mu-sic afforded me the opportunity to travel around the world and meet different peo-ple, with different cultures, and that was very educational for me to share in peo-ples cultures, their sorrows and joys. The lowest point was not being able to come home; that was very sad. I couldn’t go to bury my mother. Those were the lows. There are many things that I regret that I would like to change if I can live again. But you know, we don’t go back, we move for-ward and closer to the grave. I guess I’ll never have a chance to change the things that I regret.

Miriam was a darling of the American public, but they turned against her when she married the radical black activist, Stokely Carmichael, in 1968. Once again, she was at the receiving end of a dissatisfied and disgruntled country. Although the United States never banned her, her US concerts

and recording contracts were suddenly cancelled. She moved back to Africa, this time to Guinea where she was welcomed with open arms. Miriam continued to record songs and toured intensively. She was well respected by the government of Guinea and was asked to address the United Nations General Assembly as a Guin-ean delegate. Miriam Makeba was a lady with a special touch. She weathered many storms in her life, including several car accidents, a plane crash and even cancer. She remained as active in her latter years as she did as a young girl with stars in her eyes.

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She released over thirty albums over the years. In 1988, her autobiography “Makeba - My Story” was published and subsequently was translated from English into other languages such as German, French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. Her autobiography was even released in Japan in 1994.

She has toured with singers such as Paul Simon, Nina Simone, Hugh Masekela and Dizzy Gillepsie. Her first concert in South Africa (1991) after her return home in 1990, was a huge success and this was a prelude for a world-wide tour which included the USA and Europe. Miriam Makeba never considered herself to be a politician, but an activist for human rights. World leaders such as John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, the Pope and François Mitterrand were always glad to receive her. Over the years she received many international awards for her humantirianism from countries such as the USA, Libya, several European countries and eventually her birth country, South Africa.

Khawuleza! Khawuleza is a South African song. It comes from the townships, locations, reserva-tions, whichever, near the cit-ies of South Africa, where all the black South Africans live. The children shout from the streets as they see police cars coming to raid their homes for one thing or another. They say “Khawuleza Mama!” which simply means “Hur-ry Mama! Please, please don’t let them catch you!”

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Internationally acclaimed for decades, trumpeter, bandleader, composer and lyricist Hugh Masekela is known for his professionalism and charisma to fans of his mix of jazz, bebop, funk and Afrobeat from New York to Dakar.Of all the musicians exiled by apart-heid, it was Masekela who probably became the most noted of South Africa’s cultural

ambassadors-at-large and certainly one who has emerged unbowed and kicking from the rigours of those hard, fast years.

By the age of 20, he was in full swing as a member of the Jazz Epistles with renowned pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, having taken up the trumpet in his teens with the encourage-ment of the late Father Trevor Huddleston, his school chaplain. One of his first trumpets came from none other than Louis Armstrong. Huddleston met the legendary American jazzman while on a trip to New York, and returned with the instrument that would play a part in setting Masekela on a trajectory around the globe.

Masekela arrived in London in 1960 to study at the Guildhall School of Music, but then took off for New York, where he studied in Manhattan. His first album, Trumpet Africa, came out in 1962. His live album two years later, The Americanisation of Ooga Booga, became a hit, kicked off by Californian radio playlists.The single ‘Grazing in the Grass’ in the early seventies topped the Rolling Stones, Jumping Jack Flash and Herb Alpert’s This Guy’s in Love with You in the US charts.

Hugh

Mas

ekel

aThe apartheid regime isolated us, so it became a major yearn-ing to go where you had access to enhancing your knowledge. That’was the reason there was such a big exodus.

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After retouching his roots with the likes of Caiphus Semenya, Jonas Gwang-wa and Dudu Pukwana, he moved on to West Africa and teamed up with Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s band in Lagos.“I stayed at the Mainland Hotel and joined up with Fela every day. I found certain vitality in Afrobeat. Playing

with the band was like being on a big fat cloud. You couldn’t fall off.”

Some of the eighties was spent closer to home, in Lesotho but mostly Botswana, where in 1984 he had set up a mobile studio and recorded Techno-Bush , with the memorable dance-hit single Don’t Go Lose It Baby. After signing to Warner Broth-ers in 1987 he released Tomorrow, a smooth production which mixed tougher-hewn tracks with the Mandela tribute, Bring Him Back Home and the ballad Lon-don Fog.

Paul Simon’s Graceland tour delivered a new kind of exposure to Masekela, along-side Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and with fellow South African bandmembers such as Bakithi Khumalo, Morris Goldberg and Tony Cedras.

In 1990, Masekela returned to South Africa, and soon embarked on a mam-moth homecoming spectacle, billed as “Sekunjalo” (“This is IT!”). Accompanied by Sankomota and Bayete, the show - which ran in excess of 4 hours - played to capacity audiences at over 15 shows from Pietersburg in the North, through

Johannesburg and Durban, the Eastern Cape and Cape Town.

Masekela’s homecoming has been an inspiration for him, and the many South African musicians who have worked with and alongside him. His pivotal role as a musican and bandleader extends into that of mentor, commentator, and a cross-generational reference point for South African cultural life. He has continued to record, and of course, to tour internationally. The events - from special to the or-dinary - which he has performed at, defy listing. Masekela takes his place among those near-legendary South African artists, who with their pan-African experience and global horizons, have carved out an international landscape for South African music.

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Born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1934, remembers hearing traditional Afri-can songs, religious music and jazz as a child - all of which are reflected in his music. He received his first piano lessons in 1941 and became a professional musician in 1949 (Tuxedo Slickers, Willie Max Big Band). In 1959 he met alto

saxophone player Kippi Moeketsi who convinced him to devote his life to music. He meets and soon marries South African jazz vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin in 1965.In 1962 the Dollar Brand Trio (with Johnny Gertze on bass, Makaya Ntshoko on drums) tours Europe. Duke Ellington listens in at Zürich’s Africana Club and sets up a recording session for Reprise Records: Duke Ellington presents the Dollar Brand Trio. 1963/64 sees the trio at major European festivals, including TV shows and radio performances.

In 1965 Dollar Brand played the Newport Jazz Festival followed by a first tour through the United States. In 1966 he leads the Duke Ellington Orchestra: “I did five dates substituting for him. It was exciting but very scary, I could hardly play”. Other than six months playing with the Elvin Jones Quartet Abdullah Ibrahim (who changed his name after his conversion to Islam in the late 1960s) has been a band leader ever since. 1968 sees a solo piano tour. From then on he has continuously playing concerts and clubs throughout the US, Europe and Japan with appearances at the major music festivals of the world (e.g. Montreux, North Sea, Berlin, Paris, Montreal, etc.). A world traveler since 1962, Ibrahim went back to South Africa in the mid-1970s but found conditions so oppressive that he went back to New York in 1976. In 1988 Ibrahim wrote the award-winning sound track for the film Chocolat which was followed by fur-ther endeavors in film music the latest being the sound track to No Fear, No Die.

Apartheid created an en-vironment of denial and lies, you had to live it from day to day...Ab

dulla

h Ib

rahim

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An eloquent spokesman and deeply religious, Abdullah Ibrahim’s beliefs and ex-periences are reflected in his music. “The recent changes in South Africa are of course very welcome, it has been so long in coming. We would like a total dismantling of apartheid and the adoption of a democratic non-racist society;

it seems to be on the way.” In 1990, Ibrahim returned to South Africa to live there but keeps up his New York residence as well. Several tours took him around the globe featur-ing his groups and also doing much acclaimed solo piano recitals. 1997 saw the begin-ning of a duet cooperation with the dean of jazz drums, Max Roach.

Later projects (1997 and 1998) are of a large scale nature: Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder arranged Abdullah Ibrahim’s compositions for a 22 piece string orchestra (members of the Youth Orchestra of the European Community) for a CD recording and a Swiss Television SF-DRS production and also for the full size Munich Radio Philharmonic Orchestra again for CD production and for concert performances featuring the Abdullah Ibrahim Trio.The world premiere of the symphonic piece was at the renowned Herkules Saal, in Munich, Germany on January 18th 1998, under the direction of Barbara Yahr and the Zürcher Kammerorchester premiered the string orchestra version at Zurich’s Tonhalle in February 1998.

The string orchestra version was released in September 1998 (“African Suite”) and met widest critical acclaim from the worlds of both jazz and classical music. The symphonic version (“African Symphony”) will be released in 2001 in a double CD set which also features Abdullah Ibrahim with the NDR Jazz Big Band giving

the full scope of his large format music.Another highlight was the premiere of Cape Town Traveler, a multi-media production at the Leipzig music festival in 1999. A one hour per-formance featured A.I. & the Ekaya Sextet, a vocal group, filmmaterial from the early days in South Africa and the European years, electronic sounds ranging from impressionism to drum&bass - a great experience.

The newest album is “Cape Town Revisited” , recorded live in Cape Town. The piano of A.I. is featured with Marcus McLaurine (b) and George Gray (dr) and added is the fiery trumpet of South African Feya Faku on several tracks. A great honor has been bestowed on Abdullah Ibrahim when the renowned Gresham College in London invited him to give several lectures and concerts (beginning in October 2000 at Canary Wharf). Among his predecessors at the famed institution which looks back at a history of 500 years are John Cage, Luciano Berio, Xenakis.

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Sathima Benjamin was born into a humble family in Claremont, Cape Town in 1936. Deeply influenced by the cosmopolitan cul-ture she grew up with in the shadows of Table Mountain, her youth was soon to be shattered by the declaration of her beloved birth-

place as a ‘white area’. By the early 1960s, Benjamin was a talented jazz singer and in great demand in music and theatre. Yet as apartheid laws were implemented, black performers found it increasingly difficult to earn an income, or to maintain a sense of dignity in the face of overt racism. With limited career opportunities, performers were forced to endure separation of audiences and facilities. As with so many of her contemporaries, Benjamin found herself on foreign shores where she felt she could fully explore her art, first touring with the Jazz Epistles in Europe in 1962.

In early 1963, while Benjamin was performing with fellow Cape Town expatriate and pianist Abdullah Ibrahim in Zürich, she met the legendary Duke Ellington. Later, Ellington supervised several recording sessions at the famous Barclay Studios in Paris, with Benjamin’s singing accompa-nying the Dollar Brand Trio, with Ellington and Billy Strayhorn as second and third pianists.

From the early 1960s, Benjamin toured the world, becoming well known in jazz circles and a regular feature at musical festivals. Invited to sing with Ellington’s band at the famed Newport Jazz Festival in New York, Benjamin was attracted to the city’s cosmopolitan nature, which in some way reminded her of her home town. She settled there in the mid-1960s, and established herself as a leading exponent of her musical genre. Her uniquely modest stage presence and understated vocalizing made her a sought-after jazz singer.

Sath

ima

Bea

Benja

min

Yet as apartheid laws were imple-mented, black performers found it increasingly diff icult to earn an income, or to maintain a sense of dignity in the face of overt racism.

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In New York, Benjamin also took up the fight for liberation, assisting the ANC with fundraising concerts to raise awareness of the struggle. She has recorded more than ten albums, and in 1997, after the long-lost original tapes of the legendary recordings with Duke Ellington in Paris were discovered, an album was finally

released to much critical acclaim.

This album was finally released thirty four years after its first recording, and cap-tures Benjamin’s sublime and captivating voice as a young performer in a reper-toire of subtle ballads, accompanied by no fewer than three of the world’s great-est jazz pianists: Abdullah Ibrahim, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.Benjamin has added to the genre of jazz and jazz vocalization, and her contribution to music in South Africa and the world is truly superlative. She therefore remains a stand-ard whereby other emerging female jazz singers still measure themselves.

Benjamin is married to the great South African composer and pianist, Ab-dullah Ibrahim, with whom she has two adult children. She runs her own independent record company, Ekapa, which records and distributes jazz music. Benjamin alternates between her adopted city, New York and her

home in Cape Town, occasionally performing on other continents.

The South African Government bestowed Sathima Bea Benjamin with the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver at the National Orders awards on 19 October 2004 for her excellent contribution as a jazz artist in the development of music in South Africa and internationally, and for her contribution to the struggle against apartheid.

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Ca

iphu

s Se

men

ya Nomalanga is a song about sep-eration of families in South Af-rica during the Apartheid era.

Caiphus Semenya is one of South Africa’s foremost musical directors and com-posers, with recent credits including the music scores for the SABC series Molo Fish, Vicious Circle, and Gaba Mootho, as well as a lifetime of work as a performer and arranger of African music. Semenya left South Africa in the

1960’s, together with his wife, singer Letta Mbulu. Whilst in exile, he worked with com-patriots Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Hotep Galeta, and Miriam Makeba amongst many others. He subsequently took up residence in Los Angeles, where his talent re-sulted in work with the top range of American artists and producers, and saw his com-positions being performed by Cannonball Adderley, Harry Belafonte, The Crusaders, Lou Rawls, and Nina Simone, amongst others.

Most notable have been Semenya’s regular collaborations with Quincy Jones. The as-sociation has seen Semenya composing all the African music for Alex Hayley’s Roots Pt 1 and Pt 2, and also the African music for the Steven Spielberg-directed Colour Purple. Semenya’s work for Colour Purple earned him an Oscar Nomination.Semenya has composition credits for several tracks on Quincy Jones album “Back on the Block”, including the melody for the title track, which received a Grammy Award as album of the year in 1995.As a performing artist and big band arranger, Semenya toured Africa with the production BUWA during the 1980’s. He is probably best known to the home audience through the performances of “Caiphus & Letta”, and hit songs such as “An-gelina” and “Matswale”.

In 1989, he was the musical director for the South African component of the Wemb-ley Stadium “Nelson Mandela Tribute” concert. He returned from exile in 1990, and in 1991 headlined the Unity concert at FNB Stadium.The 1990’s saw Semenya working both sides of the Atlantic, whilst he and his family relocated to Johannesburg. Cel-ebrated performances included the Africa Night at Montreux Jazz Festival, a sold out series at Sun City, and numerous open air concerts - often together with his wife Letta Mbulu.Semenya released “Woman’s got a right to be” in 1995, and collaborated with Jonas Gwangwa to script the music for the launch of the African Union.

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Gwangwa (born: Jonas Mosa Gwangwa) has played an influential role in the evo-lution of South African jazz. A member, along with jazz pianist Abudllah Ibrahim (then, known as Dollar Brand), of the Jazz Epistles, the first Black South Afri-can to release an album, Gwangwa has gone on to become an award-winning

composer. In addition to composing the scores of such films as Cry Freedom, Genera-tions and Othello, Gwangwa composed the theme music of South Africa’s Olympic bid in 1997. Gwangwa was one of many talented musicians mentored by South African alto saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi in the early-1950s. Following the disbanding of the Jazz Epistles in 1959, Gwangwa continued to make his presence known amongst South Af-rica’s jazz enthusiasts. His fame spread to the United States in the mid-1960s. In 1965, Gwangwa was featured in a “Sound Of Africa” concert at Carnegie Hall, sharing the stage with Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Letta Mbulu. Two years later, he returned tio the United States to participate in a national tour, “The Main Event”, featuring Masekela and Herb Alpert. Despite his hefty reputation, Gwangwa remained a victim of apartheid. When the South African government passed laws making it illegal for Blacks to congre-gate, in the early 1970s, Gwangwa left his homeland. After touring Europe in a musical production of King Kong, he continued on to the United States, where he attended the Manhattan School of Music in New York. With the encouragement and patronage of Harry Belafonte, Gwangwa was able to . successfully break through to American audi-ences. Continuing to break new ground as a composer and arranger, Gwangwa served ten years as musical director of the ANC cultural ensemble tour, “Amandla”. In 1987 and 1988, he collaborated with George Fenton to compose the score for the Richard Attenborough film, Cry Freedom. In addition to being nominated for Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe awards, the film received Ivor Bovello and Black Emmy awards. Gwangwa returned to South Africa in 1991.

Jona

s G

wa

ngw

aWhen the South African govern-ment passed laws making it il-legal for Blacks to congregate, in the early 1970s, Gwangwa left his homeland.

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Vusi

Mah

lase

laI may be walking through the streets of a city called London But the dust on my boots and the rhythm of my feet and my heartbeat Say Africa. I may be walking in the streets of a city called Amsterdam But the dust on my boots and the rhythm of my feet and my heartbeat Say Africa, Say Africa, Say Af-rica....Africa!

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Letta was born and raised in Soweto. There, her musical talents became widely recognised when, at an early age, she joined the then famous African Jazz and Variety company. She then went on to receive further acclaim as a member of the prestigious Union of South African Artists. These begin-

nings were to prove invaluable in her musical development as she flourished in an environment that exposed her to influences that encompassed not only her traditional folk music, but also the ever-growing contemporary sounds of urban South Africa, the Brazilians Bossanova and American jazz and blues.Still in her teens,

Letta began touring outside of Africa with the musical “King Kong” which ran for a year in England following a highly successful two year run in South Africa. When the tour ended, she returned to South Africa but soon the policies of Apartheid were to force her to leave her native land for the U.S.A.Her first major engagement in America was at the Village Gate in New York City where she began to win hearts of the American public. As a result of the outstanding critical acclaim she won at the Village Gate, she was invited to tour with the late alto saxophone virtuoso, Cannonball Adderley. After that she joined forces with Harry Belafonte in what was to become a lasting and rewarding musical rela-tionship which took them on several world tours.

Lett

a M

bulu Letta possesses one of the fibest voices

the world of song has ever heard.Like all great singers, her voice emanates a beautiful sound that radiates and reso-nates from within, overf lowing with a joy of life and more often than not in-spiring the spirit of hope and happiness.

lowing

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She has been heard by millions chanting the opening title theme and most of the African music in “Roots” Part I and II, the highest rated television show of its kind. For this performance Quincy Jones was prompted to write “Letta is a roots lady, projecting a sophistication and warmth which stirs hope for at-

taining pure love, beauty and unity in the world. Letta’s music is simply too beautiful to miss!” Letta received the coveted Emmy Award for her performance on Roots and a gold record for the soundtrack. Letta’s screen credits include “A Warm Decem-ber” with Sidney Pottier and the Steven Spielberg and Quincy Jones production of “The Colour Purple”. She also narrated “You struck a Rock”, a documentary film that focused on the role of women in South Africa. Further more, she was the woman’s voice on Michael Jackson’s song “Liberian Girl” off the “Bad” album.

Letta was one of the founding members of South African Artists United (SAAU), a non-sectarian, non-partisan and non-profit organization formed in 1986. In January 1987, the organization launched a musical with a political and his-torical theme called “Buwa”, with Letta playing a leading role. This show toured

throughout Africa to critical acclaim until November 1988. To her South African fans, Letta has become a legend in her own time. She has never released an album that has failed to achieve platinum status (50,000 units) and has had a string of smash hits that include “Maru a pula”, “I need your love”, “Buza”, “Everybody sign along” and many others.

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The youngest of seventeen children, began singing publicly in many of the South African townships ravaged and brutalized by the apartheid of the late 1960s.Be-cause it was a challenge to attract the parental love and affection he desired from his mother and father, the young boy found his solace in music. His raspy, emo-

tive tenor carried him away from home and throughout Africa, where he saw firsthand the injustices and prejudices of the ailing nation. Initially speaking Afrikaans, he gradually learned English while touring, and began to express himself through both voice and gui-tar. British record producer Clive Calder discovered the 12-year-old Butler and inked him to a record deal. His debut single was one of the first by a black artist to be played on white radio stations in South Africa and brought instant fame as well as a Sarie Award, South Africa’s Grammy equivalent.

In the early ‘80s, Butler signed with Calder’s London-based Jive Records and established residency in England, his home for most of the next seventeen years. It was a duet with Ruby Turner, “If You’re Ready (Come With Me),” from his self-titled album that introduced Butler to international audiences. The gold album spawned the Grammy-nominated pop hit, “Lies.” Scatting note for note along with his ingenious guitar licks became one of the signatures of Butler’s clever synthesis of organic African melodies and rhythms, funky R&B, rousing gospel and slick jazz.

His next seven albums were welcomed at urban, adult contemporary and smooth jazz radio formats and earned him a Grammy nomination (Going Home) and further pop ac-claim with the single, “Sarah, Sarah.” Story Of Life (n-coded music), is a revealing peek at the emotional turmoil Butler has experienced since leaving his motherland to seek a better life and freedom from oppression.

I realized that despite all the pain, suffering and atrocities, I am still hope-lessly in love with South Africa Jo

nath

an

Butle

r

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Loui

s M

ohol

o

We were rebels and we were trying to run away from this apartheid thing. We rebelled against the apartheid regime that whites and blacks couldn’t play together. We stood up.B

orn in Langa, Cape Town in 1940, drummer and bandleader Louis Tebogo Moholo left South Africa in 1964 as a member of the Blue Notes with Chris McGregor (p), Mongezi Feza (tpt), Johnny Dyani (b), Nick Moyake and Dudu Pukwana (saxophones). Moholo’s profile as a drummer has its roots in the Blue Notes, but he has subsequently been associated with a host of projects,

ranging from the Brotherhood of Breath with Chris McGregor in the 1970’s and 1980’s, to Viva la Black, the big band which he leads and which is a powerful showcase for his improvisational percussion work.

As a youth, Moholo was active with boy scout marching bands, and later performed on kit drums with Ronnie Beer’s ‘Swinging City Six’. When he met McGregor, and joined Pukwana, Feza,Dyani and Moyake, the resulting Blue Notes blew the Johannesburg jazz scene. They were invited to the Antibes Jazz Festi-val in 1964, paving the way to their sustained impact on the European jazz circuit, and lives in exile.

After the death of Mongezi Feza in 1975, the Blue Notes ceased to exist as a regular unit, although col-laborations between surviving members continued. Moholo continued to work with Chris McGregor, as well as bassists Johnny Dyani and Harry Miller. He spent much time in England, but visited South Africa in the early ‘70’s.

Acclaimed as a free form, avant garde drummer, Moholo is known for his polyrhythmic expression, and his work with an array of musicians, including Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, Keith Tippet, Irene Schwezer, Steve Lacey, Curtis Clarke, Cecil Taylor, and Derek Blakey. He toured his native South Africa with Viva la Black in 1992/3, and performed as part of the “Return To Roots: International Jazz Comes Home” in 2003.

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Busi

Mhl

ong

o

Drawing on various South African styles such as mbaqanga, maskanda, marabi and traditional Zulu music, it is fused at various times with con-temporary elements from jazz, funk, rock, gospel, rap, opera, reggae and West African sounds in a fresh and exciting mix.The infectious music has

a universal appeal and so does Busi’s singing style & stage presence. Her lyrics are sung in Zulu and English and carry a strong message. Her own story began in Inanda, in the mountains of Kwazulu Natal. Born into a musical family, she was given a small drum and two sticks and encouraged to sing at weddings, in church choirs and at school. She left school to pursue a musical career in Jo’burg and became a member of African Jazz. She then found herself living in Portugal via Mozambique and Angola with the group Conjunto Juan Paulo. She watched audiences applaud songs sung in Angolan languages as well as Portuguese and was invited to sing her own songs. “In South Africa we had to sing in English to get jobs. I began to realise that music truly has no border, no language.

Busi first visited London in the 1970’s and recorded with South African exiles Dudu Pukwana, Julian Bahula and Lucky Ranku as well as Osibisa. Later she played lead in a Canadian stage production of ‘Reefer Glad-ness’ She spent the 1980’s between Holland and South Africa with her newly formed Twasa band and she played with Winston Mankunku Ngozi to packed houses at the Blue Note in Durban. Backed by Gambian group Ifang Bondi, she was the highlight of the African Roots Festival in Am-sterdam and was billed alongside Salif Keita and Manu Dibango at the African Music Festival in Delft in 1989. In 1993, Busi made her first solo album, ‘Babemu’ with Dutch label Munich, before returning to Durban to run workshops in Zulu singing and dancing.

Haunted by melodies, she per-sisted in the face of adversity and begun singing with with groups led by her older and more musi-cally advanced brother.

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Born Tsietsi Daniel Motijoane in Lesotho in 1955, Nana Coyote, grew up in the dusty streets of Sharpeville. While at Makabelane high school in Qwaqwa, he started his musical career by forming a band with school-mates.He later joined the group “The Black Five” in Sharpeville, and for 10 years they performed around the country.He is affectionately known as “Nana Coyote” for his vocal abilities to comfortably sing in falsetto and

in a deep growling voice. When he performs in his electrifying growling voice, his fans refer to him as “The wild dog”

In 1980, at the height of political unrest as resistance against the unjust laws of apartheid intensified, Nana went into exile in Lesotho where he joined the group “Uhuru” (now “Sankomota”. He returned to rejoin “The Black Five” for a spell and then, in 1984, headed for Johannesburg seeking to further his professional music career.

Coyote’s big break came when a group “Ozila” asked him to feature as a lead vocalist in one of their songs “I’m suf-fering” which became a hit. Soon afterwards Lloyd Lelosa asked him feature in a duet with Steve Kekana on one of the latter’s songs “Take your love”. This song became a huge hit and is still considered one of the South African all time classics.

With his vocal abilities well known, it did not come as a surprise that Ray Phiri leader of the group then hugely suc-cessful group “Stimela” of which Lloyd Lelosa was also a member, asked Nana Coyote to feature in one of Stimela’s songs “Whisper in the deep (Phinda Mzala)” This song went straight to the top of the charts, becoming another one of the South African all time classics in which Nana Coyote lends his soulful voice. In the early 90’s, after Ray Phiri went on a world tour with Paul Simon, Coyote was asked by Stimela to be the lead singer of the group. They recorded a number of albums before disbanding later in that decade.

Coyote continued to lend his voice as a featured musician on a number of musical projects and appeared on stage with a number of groups including his previous band, “Sankomota” In Dec 2001 he met up with his long time friend Steve Kekana in Bloemfontein. Coyote was touring with “Sankomota” and Steve with Joe Nina. Coyote joined Steve Kekana on stage to perform their classic duet “Take your love” To say the performance was electrifying would be an understatement. This lead to Joe Nina asking Coyote to join him and Steve Kekana on his live performances. This has since lead to a string of highly charged live performance around the country.

With a foundation having being laid, in June 2002, Coyote asked Joe Nina to produce his album, to which the young maverick producer agreed. Coyote was signed to Kisanji Entertainment, Joe Nina’s record label. Nana Coyote’s first solo album under the Kisanji label, titled “Majaja” was released in August 2003.

Na

na C

oyot

e

We are all tributaries of the great rivers of pain.

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Although the South African career of the drummer Makaya Ntshoko spans but a very short period, his name is legendary. Born in Cape Town in 1939, he grew up in Langa. Early on he learned from musicians such as George Castle (bass), Banzi Bangani (trumpet), Morris Goldberg (alto) and the drummers Columbus Phakamile

“Phaks” Joya and Maurice Gawronsky. He teamed up with “Dan Boy” Danayi (alto) and Martin “Lilly” Mgijima and had the opportunity to jam and perform with Cups Nkanuka (tenor) and his Peninsula Stars. In 1959 he joined fellow Cape musicians Dollar Brand and Johnny Gertze on a trip to Johannesburg where together with Kippie Moeketsi, Jonas Gwangwa and Hugh Masekela they formed the legendary Jazz Epistles. The group was committed to serious, progressive jazz and recorded their ground breaking album. Whereas Dollar Brand and Johnny Gertze eventually returned to Cape Town, Makaya stayed on. Together with Kippie Moeketsi and Jonas Gwangwa he joined the crew of the musical King Kong for its second tour in England and Scotland in 1960.

Eventually he responded to the call of Dollar Brand and joined him, Johnny Gertze and Sathima Bea Benjamin in Switzerland. The Dollar Brand Trio performed in Basel at the Atlantis and in Zuerich at the club Africana where Col-trane and Ellington came to see them. The latter in 1963 invited them to Paris for a recording that paved their way to international recognition. What followed was a rapid career that took Makaya to Germany, Denmark, England, France, the United States and the Far East performing with Johnny Dyani, Mal Waldron, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Roland Kirk, Joe McPhee, John Tchicai, Pepper Adams, Hannibal Petersen, NICRA, etc.

In comparison with other musicians in exile, such as Moholo, Ntshoko did not foreground his South African roots that much and was closer to the European scene. He was - and still is - known for intricate polyrthyms, a light and re-silient way of drumming, immediate response and sensitivity. For a while Makaya Ntshoko was the house drummer at the Jazz Jamboree in Berlin and at the Jazzhouse Montmartre in Copenhagen. As he constantly had a problem with permits he made Basel in Switzerland his base. He seized the opportunity to teach workshops at the Basel con-servatory. His composition Bebby (or Bebe), a tribute to the young students at Basel, is reminiscent of this period.

Yet, life in exile was not less difficult than life under Apartheid. While the condition set free an immense creative energy it destroyed several of Makaya’s countrymen. Consequently Ntshoko kept a low profile. Together with his longtime companion John Tchicai he joined the project Jazz against Apartheid the Music of Johnny Dyani in Frank-furt/ Germany in 1986, which was originally started by the initiative Kultur im Ghetto together with Dyani. More recently Makaya Ntshoko can be seen on stage more frequently in performances with artists such as John Tchicai (tenor), Pierre Favre (drums), Irene Schweizer (piano) or with his own Makaya and the New Tsotsis (the original Tsotsis were a project of his in the mid 70s) with Andy Scherrer (tenor), Vera Kappeler (piano) and Stephan Kur-mann (bass). A record of this band is due for release.

Ma

kha

ya N

shok

o The condition of exile set free an im-mense creative energy but it also destroyed several of my country-men.

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Dolly Rathebe was born in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg in 1928, but grew up within the unique cultural and political milieu of Sophiatown in the 1930s and 1940s.As a young woman, Rathebe was drawn to the burgeon-ing and vibrant music scene in Sophiatown and started singing with local jazz bands in neighbourhood clubs. In 1949, she was spotted by a talent scout and was offered the lead female role in Jim Comes to Joburg, one of

the earliest South African films made for a primarily black audience. Although she was essentially untrained as an actor, her sparkling performance as a nightclub singer revealed a raw, natural talent. Dolly, as she was popularly called, was in great public demand and became the first African female movie star.

Soon Rathebe was singing in every suburban and township lounge and gracing the cover of the ubiquitous Drum maga-zine. Her fame as a jazz singer therefore grew considerably. The fact that she had been arrested with Drum photog-rapher, Jürgen Schadeberg for contravention of Apartheid laws while on a photo-shoot, only served to swell her now widespread fan base. “Dolly” was now the nation’s sweetheart and as a measure of her mass support, her very name became synonymous for “all right” or “okay” in township slang.

In the next decade, Rathebe toured the country and the region extensively with South Africa’s top bands, including the Manhattan Stars and the Harlem Swingsters. She also featured as the star attraction on Alf Herbert’s famous African Jazz and Variety Show which opened in 1954 and ran for many years. Similarly, when the seminal South African produc-tion of King Kong opened in 1962 it included Rathebe in its illustrious line-up. That production eventually took the UK by storm, but sadly, in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, resulted in many of the country’s top performers re-maining in exile for many years.Rathebe, however, returned to her homeland. The precipitous impact of the dislocation of stable communities into dormitory townships and with a cultural landscape largely denuded of its best talent, authentic cultural expression went into utter decline and was to take a long time to recover.

Although Rathebe’s career was to be briefly revived in the mid-1960s when she joined the Elite Swingsters - the Afro-jazz group which achieved some international success, she was never able to recreate her former fame. Rathebe finally retired from her music career and after stints in Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town, eventually moved to Mobopane, near Pretoria in 1971, occasionally making an appearance on the stage and in the studio – her last recording was with the reunited Elite Swingsters in 1991.Dolly Rathebe was a principal player in the cultural renaissance which flowered briefly before it was terminated by Apartheid. She contributed hugely to the development of what was to become the inimitable and enduring sound of South African Jazz. Sadly she passed away soon after she had been nominated for national honours.For her excellent contribution to music and the performing arts and commitment to the ideals of justice, freedom and democracy, the South African Government bestowed Dolly Rathebe with the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver at the Na-tional Orders awards on 19 October 2004.

Dolly

Ra

theb

eThe fact that she had been arrested for contravention of Apartheid laws while on a photo-shoot, only served to swell her now widespread fan base.

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Mtutuzeli Dudu Pukwana was born on 18 July 1938 in Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth, South Africa . He was a saxophonist, composer and pianist.Dudu Pukwana grew up studying piano in his family, but in 1956 he switched to alto sax after meeting tenor sax player Nick Moyake. In 1962, he won first prize at the Johannesburg Jazz Festival with Moyake’s Jazz Giants (1962

Gallo/Teal). Chris McGregor then invited him to join the pioneering Blue Notes sextet where he played along with Mongezi Feza, Nikele Moyake, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo. Although The Blue Notes are often considered McGregor’s group, Pukwana was initially the principal composer and all the group members had pivotal roles.As mixed-race groups were illegal under apartheid, the Blue Notes, increasingly harassed by authori-ties, emigrated to Europe in 1964, playing in France and Zurich, and eventually settling in London. After The Blue Notes split in the late 1960s, Pukwana joined McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath big band, which again featured his soloing heavily. As a composer Pukwana wrote “Mra,” one of the best-loved tunes by the Brotherhood.He also went on to form two groups with Feza and Moholo. The first was Assagai an afro-rock band who recorded for the Vertigo label. The second was Spear, with whom he recorded the seminal afro-jazz album In The Townships in 1973. Assagai and Spear, which recorded a few albums in the early 1970s, blended kwela rhythms, rocking guitars, and jazz solos.Later Pukwana’s fiery voice was heard in many diverse settings ranging from the Incredible String Band to improvising with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink (Yi Yo Le, ICP 1978). With Mongezi Feza, Elton Dean, Keith Tippett, and Louis Moholo, Pukwana recorded two masterful acoustic tracks on the mostly electric album Diamond Express (Freedom 1977). The death of his great friend Mongezi Feza in 1975 also inspired the heart-rending “Blue Notes For Mongezi” (Ogun records), alongside Blue Notes colleagues Johnny Dyani, Chris McGregor and Louis Moholo. He also guested on albums with his for-mer Blue Notes colleague, Johnny Dyani, particularly “Witchdoctor’s Son” which features some of his best recorded work and played extensively with the drummer John Stevens. Several African leaders invited him into their groups, including Hugh Masekela and trombonist Jonas Gwangwa’s African Explo-sion (Who, Ngubani 1969).In 1978, Pukwana founded Jika Records and formed his own band, Zila, featuring South Africans Lucky Ranku on guitar and powerful vocalist Miss Pinise Saul. Zila recorded Zila Sounds (1981), Live in Brack-nell and Willisau (1983) partly recorded at the Bracknell Jazz Festival, and Zila (1986), the last with keyboardist Django Bates and Pukwana increasingly using soprano sax. In duo with John Stevens, he recorded the free session They Shoot to Kill (Affinity Records, 1987), dedicated to Johnny Dyani. Dudu Pukwana died of liver failure in June 1990, not long after his longtime friend and colleague McGregor.

Dud

u Pu

kwa

na Quite a lot of people who stayed in SA gave up music.

In Memory

Of

Mirriam Makeba

4 March 1932 - 10 November 2008