Her celebration of black life, black beauty and black humanity through her films and music was subversive.
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Articles on South African music
Displaying 1 - 20 of 28 articles
The saxophone legend played much more than jazz - he delighted in layering styles and genres.
Jazz star Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse has turned 70. In 50 years, his music career has come to help define South African politics and popular culture.
Schooled in music through church, he was driven by a fierce sense of belonging to Lesotho where he was born, and neighbouring South Africa.
For over 50 years Tshola was loved by audiences around the world for his rich baritone voice, which he used to inspire and to speak political truths.
South Africa’s greatest composer was uniquely shaped by his early years of singing at traditional Zulu weddings and working in jazz bands and church choirs.
We should remember him as just another ordinary human being who did extraordinary things.
He did not so much play the drums, as become the drum. His influence was felt through his trailblazing percussive work and his many collaborations.
Despite devastating setbacks like his studio being vandalised, the saxophonist and teacher believed that music can heal - part of a vision that shaped a future generation of jazz artists.
She was the glue that bound younger artists together, helping them navigate the volatile terrain of the music industry.
Both choirs and classical music were childhood influences on a stellar career that would leave behind major new recordings in these areas.
She was a vocalist who sang in every style – from Carmen to UShaka – with equal mastery, popularising classical forms and epitomising ‘the new South Africa’.
The plight of live music mapped in the new survey should concern anyone looking to the return of the country’s diverse live music scene.
Like Pata-Pata, Homeless and Mbube, the song Jerusalema is elevated by a historical moment in time and has the power to cross over to different audiences.
During the coronavirus pandemic the Jerusalema dance challenge enacted a way for communities to connect - repetitive enough to be picked up and varied enough to tease.
The artist’s body of work, through its very public focus on queer masculinity, offers alternative ways of thinking about what being a man is.
The live streaming of music events online is full of potential – but right now few artists or hosting venues are earning much from it.
His talent took him across the world - he was Ray Charles’ regular drummer - and the music he was exposed to sparked innovation when he returned home.
Her sensitive new album is rooted at home in South Africa while at the same time journeying to Mali, where it was recorded and co-produced with Salif Keita.
There aren’t a lot of studies on South Africa’s cultural economy. A new one finds a cluster of creative firms in Cape Town with high levels of innovation.
Top contributors
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Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria
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Associate Professor, Department of Music, University of Venda
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Professor Emeritus, Social Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Lecturer, University of Fort Hare
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Head of Department and senior lecturer in Ethnomusicology, Rhodes University
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PhD Candidate, University of the Free State
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PhD Candidate, University of the Free State
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Senior Lecturer of Music, University of the Free State
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Professor of Economics and Researcher at the South African Cultural Observatory, Rhodes University
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Professor of English Literature, King's College London
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Assistant Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin
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Associate Professor, Falmouth University
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Professor of Music Emeritus, and University Fellow, University of KwaZulu-Natal
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Music lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand
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Poet and lecturer in Creative Writing, University of the Witwatersrand
