Text Messages | Ho Chi Minh on real and fake revolutionaries
Ho Chi Minh’s uncompromising opposition to colonialism and fake revolutionaries speaks directly to South Africa today.
Culture
Afrikaner angst and questions of identity
Wikus de Wet and Jaco van der Merwe use exquisitely crafted images and words to explore the angst experienced by many young
A slave to the music
The release of Prince’s back catalogue is thrilling for fans, but also a reminder that art is commodity – even, and especially, in death.
Music makes us strong
The Liberation Project’s reinvigorated and new struggle songs aim to create solidarity across borders, but it has slipped up on gender.
Political Songs | Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddam
It took American singer Nina Simone just an hour to compose one of the most powerful protest songs of all time.
Text Messages | Eleven short trips to Chatsworth
Pravasan Pillay has an unerring ear, and has written his way into the South Africa literary canon.
Political Songs | Coffin for Head of State by Fela Kuti
Coffin for Head of State is a defiant Fela Kuti’s mournful tribute to his mother.
Text Messages | Cold trail of the mystery author
After months of trying to uncover the identity of an obscure South African writer from the 1940s, the intrepid literary detective is no closer.
Rebuilding wounded dreams – workers as writers and artists
Despite all the great art created by organised labour during the struggle, since democracy, there has been a paucity of artistic production from the rank and file. It’s time we emboldened workers to pick up the pen again.
Political Songs | Respect by Aretha Franklin
An energetic, infectious, suggestive demand for something everyone needs.
Text Messages | How chess brought me to Biko
Even the ancient division of the game itself – white versus black – was echoed perversely in South African reality.
A future more female
Two recent science fiction novels take a critical look at patriarchy by imagining alternate realities that offer a vision of a freer world.
Political Songs | Mannenberg by Dollar Brand
In part one of a series on political songs, Charles Leonard pays tribute to Mannenberg, the best-selling jazz record in South Africa in
Just CD’s: Bra Eddie’s lifelong calling
Edward ‘Bra Eddie’ Mudau speaks about his Braamfontein based CD and record shop, Just CD’s, a cultural institution in Johannesburg.
Text Messages | Jazz partisans in Prague
The tanks began rolling across the border at 11pm. A few hours later, at 1.50am, radio announcers told the people of Czechoslovakia
Quiet power of the goddess
Sacred soundscapes and delicately hushed vocals make Gabisile Motuba’s latest offering near impossible to box.
Text Messages | Mr Biswas and the dignity of a home
Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, known to his readers as VS Naipul, was a master of postcolonial literature – but he was also a bigot.
Iphupo l’ka Biko: Songs of past, present and future
Nhlanhla Ngqaqu’s ‘Iphupho l’ka Biko’ mixes historic and popular melodies with risk-taking experimental music to nurture community.
Maskandi: Delight, praise and critique
New Frame speaks to SA music icon and childhood hero Phuzekhemisi about speaking truth to power and the suppression of powerful ideas.
Art house hit Rafiki banned in Kenya
Wanuri Kahiu’s gorgeous film ‘Rafiki’ has been banned in Kenya, a country that has expressed its hostility for same-sex and LGBTQI