Culture

1997: Matt Black and Jonathan More of Coldcut in their studio in London, United Kingdom. (Photograph by Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images)

Political Songs | Timber – Coldcut

Electronic music duo Matt Black and Jonathan More’s visual protest song against the logging industry is as relevant and powerful today as in 1998.

By: Charles Leonard
19 Apr 2019

Culture

1915: ‘The Apse of Notre Dame’ from ‘Paris Past and Present’ (The Studio, London, 1915). (Photograph by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

Text Messages | Victor Hugo’s pro-poor ‘Notre-Dame’

While the restorers of Notre Dame may do well to consult ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ for rebuilding tips, Hugo’s novel is essentially a humanist credo that speaks for the abused.

By: Darryl Accone
18 Apr 2019

Culture

13 April 2019: Sam Smith in concert at the Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg. (Photograph courtesy of Big Concerts)

Sam Smith delivers fragments of freedom

The British singer and self-proclaimed ‘proud gay’ person played an unapologetically queer show for a suburban crowd in Johannesburg, raising awareness of LGBTQIA+ identities.

By: Danielle Bowler
17 Apr 2019

Culture

8 January 1984: Billy Bragg in Acton in Ealing, West London, in the United Kingdom. (Photograph by David Corio/Redferns)

Political Songs | Power in a union – Billy Bragg

The British singer started out playing benefit gigs during the 1984 miners’ strike. His reputation as a protest singer grew from there as he helped fans ‘make sense of the world’.

By: Charles Leonard
12 Apr 2019

Culture

7 December 1961: Albert Luthuli and his wife, Nokukhanya, leaving the Dorchester Hotel in London, UK. They were en route to Oslo, Norway, where Luthuli accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. (Photograph by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Text Messages | Challenging Mandela

Nelson Mandela surmised Albert Luthuli’s thoughts on violent struggle but few have challenged him on this, even though Luthuli vocally ‘embraced non-violent passive resistance’.

By: Darryl Accone
11 Apr 2019

Culture

14 June 2014: Nosisi Ngakane performing as a guest singer with The Brother Moves On at the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival at Constitution Hill in Joburg.

Why bands break up

Talent and passion are no longer enough in an industry that’s increasingly difficult to break into and earn a livelihood. Bands need structure, leadership and finance.

By: Tseliso Monaheng
10 Apr 2019

Culture

18 December 1976: American musician Stevie Wonder entertains students at the Dance Theatre of Harlem in New York, United States. (Photograph by Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images)

The soundtrack to South Africa’s elections

‘I live in the ghetto, you just come to visit me ’round election time,’ sings Stevie Wonder, who has advocated against apartheid and for the poor in song and action.

By: Musawenkosi Cabe
9 Apr 2019

Culture

Undated: Guitarist Anana Harouna, one of three members of Kel Assouf. (Photograph by Guillaume Kayacan/Wikimedia Creative Commons licence)

Political Songs | Fransa – Kel Assouf

Like the Tuaregs, Kel Assouf’s music isn’t constrained by borders. It’s a mix of genres that draws on issues of migration, injustice, colonialism, displacement and homesickness.

By: Charles Leonard
5 Apr 2019

Culture

29 March 2019: (From left) Reed player and composer Nubya Garcia on stage with bassist and composer Daniel Casimir.

Jazz and identity collide in Cape Town

The 2019 edition of the annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival raises awkward questions of access, privilege, power and representation.

By: Gwen Ansell
4 Apr 2019

Culture

22 January 1919: Emir Feisal at the Palace of Versailles during the Paris Peace Conference. Behind him, left to right, are Rustin Day, Nuri Es-Sa’id, Pisani, Lawrence, Haidar of Baalbek and Hassan Dey Qadri. (Photograph by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Text Messages | The parsing of Palestine

Twelve words in the 1917 Balfour Declaration had huge consequences for Palestine, but what of the earlier British-French agreement and Lawrence of Arabia’s role in the land grab?

By: Darryl Accone
4 Apr 2019

Culture

30 March 2019: Xolani Khanyile, sporting a makarapa bearing the name of maskandi artist Khuzani, was one of thousands of fans at the Gcwalisa iMabhida Maskandi Concert.

Maskandi’s showmen fill up Moses Mabhida

It was a gathering of maskandi stars and their fan bases and, as promised by King Khuba, it filled the venue in Durban with sound, lights and colour – and a hint of rivalry.

By: Fezokuhle Mthonti
3 Apr 2019

Culture

16 February 2019: Gladys Thaane was dismissed from her job at Heineken during strike action. She now uses her background in theatre to explain labour policies to members of the Simunye Workers Forum.

Workers’ theatre on the East Rand

Dismissed Heineken factory worker and theatre-maker Gladys Thaane is using performance as an educational tool to teach and empower workers on and around the factory floor.

By: Fezokuhle Mthonti
1 Apr 2019

Culture

21 June 2005: The People’s National Party used one of Max Romeo’s songs in an election campaign, although ‘it wasn’t intended to be a slogan song’. Romeo is photographed here in Kingston, Jamaica. (Photograph by David Corio/Redferns)

Political Songs | War Ina Babylon – Max Romeo

In the 1970s, political parties drew on Rastafarian culture to garner votes, using reggae songs in campaigns. But election violence ended up having a dramatic effect on the genre.

By: Charles Leonard
29 Mar 2019

Culture

24 May 1871: A news sheet detail shows government soldiers advancing into Paris to suppress the Commune. The caption asserts that people were joyful at the army’s arrival. In reality, however, the Communards were not. (Image by Art Media/Print Collector/G

Text Messages | Long live the Commune

The Paris Commune of 1871 was essentially a working-class government that, although physically quashed, sparked the idea of functioning proletarian rule.

By: Darryl Accone
28 Mar 2019

Culture

19 June 2016: Hama used the same Yamaha PSR-64 keyboard he bought as a boy to record his debut album, ‘Torodi’, which came out in 2015. (Photograph by Christopher Kirkley)

First the Sahel, now the world for Hama Techno

From techno to folk songs, Hama is not afraid to meld sounds to create his brand of electronica, as is evident on his new album ‘Houmeissa’.

By: Lloyd Gedye
27 Mar 2019

Culture

20 March 2019: Artist Breeze Yoko has been instrumental in getting Ubuhle Bendalo, a two-week urban art festival comprising workshops, sketch battles and large-scale murals, up and running.

Breeze Yoko launches Joburg street art festival

Ubuhle Bendalo gives international and South African street artists an opportunity to share and profit from their work through workshops, sketch battles and large-scale murals.

By: Tseliso Monaheng
26 Mar 2019

Culture

14 March 2019: Trumpeter Mandla Mlangeni wants to make music more accessible, especially outside affluent areas.

Mandla Mlangeni trumpets economic freedom

The horn player’s new album, ’Afrika Grooves’, plays out the politics of his messages as he shares composition duties and takes control of the music’s mobility and accessibility.

By: Gwen Ansell
25 Mar 2019

Culture

4 June 2014: Palestinian hip-hop group DAM performing at the Palestine Festival of Literature at Qasr al Qassem in Beit Wazan, near Nablus, West Bank. (Photograph by Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

Political Songs | Jasadik-Hom – DAM

The Palestinian hip-hop crew’s latest release features Maysa Daw on vocals, as she confronts issues of racism and chauvinism head on.

By: Charles Leonard
22 Mar 2019

Culture

20 March 2019: An armed police officer in front of Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, one of two mosques at which an Australian man killed 50 people. (Photograph by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Text Messages | Crimes against humankind

There is no rationalisation for mass murder and such acts of savagery – seen by some as the ‘clash of civilisations’ – make predictions of a fourth world war more convincing.

By: Darryl Accone
21 Mar 2019

Culture

31 May 2015: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba on stage at the Electrowerkz music venue in London, United Kingdom. (Photograph by C Brandon/Redferns via Getty Images)

Best new albums: From oud to dance

From Bassekou Kouyate’s ‘Miri’ to Mabuta’s ‘Welcome to this World Remixes’, Lloyd Gedye picks his top new releases from the first quarter of 2019.

By: Lloyd Gedye
19 Mar 2019

Culture

8 October 2012: Siya Mthembu of The Brother Moves On performing at the OppiKoppi music festival.

The brothers are moving on

The core members of The Brothers Move On are all doing ‘other things’ as family commitments, side projects and circumstances pull them in different directions.

By: Tseliso Monaheng
18 Mar 2019