South Africa’s musical wind

Between apartheid and rainbow nation

Paris 

16/06/2010 - 

Thanks to the support of a handful of artists, like Miriam Makeba and Johnny Clegg, South African music is now a familiar feature on the international scene, but its image is still deeply marked by the country’s past and present political context.

“The lion sleeps tonight” with its soaring vocal harmonies marked the arrival of New York group, The Tokens. Sung in the fashionable American “doo wop” style of the times, their version of the song was a huge hit when it came out in 1961. It went round the world, and Henri Salvador released his own adaptation the following year.

The song was also known by the name Winoweh and for a decade American artists had been singing the track, which marked the arrival of South African music on the international scene. Its original title was actually Mbube and it was recorded for the first time in 1939 by the Zulu singer, Solomon Linda, in the studios of the Gallo record company in Johannesburg.

But when the 78 arrived on the American continent in a suitcase belonging to ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, the author’s identity appeared to have got lost somewhere over the Atlantic. In South Africa, where the apartheid regime had been in place since 1948, copyright for black people was a non-issue in the white man’s world. 

Mama Africa

After she defended the film Come Back Africa at the Venice film festival, which highlighted living conditions in the townships, the singer Miriam Makeba could not return to her homeland. She then became one of the flag bearers in the fight against the Pretoria authorities’ racist and racial politics.

Pata Pata bolstered the fame that she had started to enjoy following her association with Harry Belafonte. Now she had become an ambassador of South African music. “She was in Paris for a single performance, and she sang at Olympia. For over two hours, she took over the stage and seemed incredibly at ease,” raved the monthly magazine Africa in 1964.

Three years later, having received a Grammy Award for An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba, she was back on the famous Parisian stage. “There’s no doubt that for our generation, the Makeba phenomenon (the venue in Paris was packed, despite no publicity) corresponds to the rediscovery of African artistic creation,” France-Eurafrique wrote at the time.

In her wake, the woman known as Mama Africa was sweeping along her saxophonist compatriot, High Masekela, also in exile. Only those living in similar circumstances were broadcasting their country’s music overseas, since the South Africa of the time was a nation subject to trade restrictions, boycotted by the international community.

Things started opening up slightly in 1983. The Durban-based group Malopoets, whose two albums had already gained them an international reputation, went to Paris to record their record Mervyn Africa with French producer Martin Meissonnier and take part in numerous festivals.

Gazelles

At about the same time, Lizzy Mercier Descloux was asking Où sont passées les gazelles? (where did the gazelles go?), inspired by the song Kaset by Obed Ngobeni & The Kurhula Sisters. The first signs of a still barely perceptible evolution were clearly present. With so many initiatives demanding the release of Nelson Mandela, the leader of the ANC (African National Congress) who had been in prison since 1962, many artists helped raise public awareness of the South African cause.

All that remained was to crystallise all this attention, and the perfect candidate came in the form of Johnny Clegg in 1986. With the “white Zulu”, all the clichés came tumbling down. His songs Asimbonanga and Scatterlings of Africa were constantly on the airwaves and sales of his album, Third World Child were sky-high.

The welcome was particularly warm in France, where he joined the movement SOS Racisme. “With the Zulu dances, there was a visual aspect to the music I was doing. And I also think the timing of our message was really good: on our first visit, Le Pen’s extreme right-wing party had just won 15% of the votes in the general election and France was in shock,” analysed the singer and ex-student union member.

The Graceland sensation

Although Johnny Clegg unquestionably played an important role, Paul Simon proved just as crucial in pulling South African music out of the shadows. The American singer, often considered as one of the godfather’s of world music, decided to go to Johannesburg to put together some of the tracks on Graceland, which came out in 1986.

While he was there, he invited some local bands into the studio, like the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, for whom he went on to produce their next three albums. The spotlight proved effective (over 14 million copies of Graceland were sold round the world) and extended into a long tour featuring Miriam Makeba.

The man whose protégée she had been, Harry Belafonte, made his own contribution in 1988 with Paradise in Gazankulu. About thirty South African musicians participated in the project. The terrain was suddenly ready to welcome back some veteran musicians like Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens, who celebrated mbaqanga in their album Paris Soweto.

In France, the Franchement zoulou caravan set out on the road in May 1989 with five groups on a quest for international fame. Lucky Dube didn’t wait long to find it, and was soon spotted and backed by an American label. Wherever he went, the reggae man in fatigues caused a sensation. Once again, the political angle of hits like Prisonner and Slave probably had something to do with his popularity.

New era

With the end of apartheid and Mandela’s election as head of state, a page was turned and the viewpoint on South Africa shifted. Nineties urban kwaito didn’t manage to seduce an overseas audience any more than the disco bubblegum confections of singer Brenda Fassie.

Today, Tumi & the Volume have reignited the links between their country and France. They have been playing regularly on neighbouring Reunion Island for a few years, but the quartet is now looking to extend its popularity to mainland France with their new album Pick a Dream.

 

This multi-racial group, which plays a hip-hop sound sitting in the same category as Arrested Development and The Roots, provides a reassuring image of South Africa as the rainbow nation. An image that Tumi Molekane, the son of exiled ANC militants, only discovered at the age of fourteen when apartheid was at last definitively abolished.

Bertrand  Lavaine

Translation : Anne-Marie  Harper