Celebrating Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo Month (Extracts from the Deputy President’s Message: January 1967) “The Freedom Charter is the common programme of the ANC, the South African Indian Congress, the…
Mbongeni Ngema: A Revolutionary Force in the Arts “When I grew up, all I wanted to be was a musician … I always wanted to be on stage performing for…
Bra Johnny Mekoa: Jazz Giant Bra Johnny was born John Ramakhobotla Mekoa on 11 April 1945. Mekoa was a man who had had the foot of the apartheid system at…
Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo: South Africa’s Cultural Ambassadors Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of a capella music,…
Abdullah Ibrahim: Music Maestro “In Africa, the music legacy is passed on through families …” “Our traditional music is very, very complex compared, for example, to western music. Many people…
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela: The Fearless Warrioress “In her particular life, we may see more clearly the violence wrought by colonialism and apartheid, the profound consequences of fraternal political movements to whom…
Zenzile Miriam Makeba: Mama Afrika “Honestly, I’m just a little old singer, I am not a politician, I’m not an economist or anything of the sort. I just wish that…
“Bra Gib” Gibson Mthuthuzeli Kente: How Long HOW LONG: Written and first performed in 1973, it is a melodramatic musical play with political undertones in the township style, it is…
Papa: The Village Pope You’re waiting for your name, to be calledYour body is shaking with disbeliefCause you never, ever worked for it before Born from the masterA master of…
Johnny Clegg’s Final Journey I think we are moving into a kind of massive, global meltdown of national identities into sub-identities. The fracturing of societies on race, class, gender, and…