Traditional music
South Africa is an extremely fertile land for creation, and unsurprisingly has one of the richest deposits of traditional music on the continent. One of the most spectacular traditions is to be found in Natal with the isicathamiya. These choral and polyphonic songs performed a cappella by the Zulu people have the beautiful fusion of Amahubo incantations and umbholoho wedding choirs. This harmonious blend of voices has a more powerful variant called mbube. Forgotten for much of the 20th century, isicathamiya re-emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, led by the star band Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Today, isicathamiya competitions are held in Johannesburg and Durban.
The kwela
Born in the township of Alexandra (north of Johannesburg) in the 1940s, kwela is an astonishing music, impregnated with American swing and played mainly on the penny-whistle, the famous little metal recorder, so called because it cost no more than a penny. The genre has brought some stars such as the Solven Whistlers, a very good kwela band with very sophisticated harmonies, Specks Rampura or Lemmy Special Mabaso. They are all present on the excellent compilation Something New in Africa (published by Decca in 1959), a little treasure that documents very well what the kwela scene in South Africa was. Bewitching and lively, the kwela and its surprising penny-whistle solos have largely influenced South African jazz.
Jazz
Originally, there was marabi. This early 20th-century genre, a cousin of jazz, ragtime and blues, was played on an electro-mechanical organ or piano, and was designed to draw crowds to the shebeens, the underground bars of the black population. Characterized by its repetitive melodic motifs, marabi is, along with kwela, one of the foundations of South African jazz. In the 1950s, South African jazz saw the emergence of its leading figure, the immense trumpeter Hugh Masekela (1939-2018). A veritable starting point for local jazz, Masekela and his legendary ensemble - the Jazz Epistles - were the first African jazz group to record a record and play to full houses in the country. Iconic throughout his career, in 1987 his single Bring Him Back Home, calling for Nelson Mandela's release, became the anthem of the South African liberation movement.
Also a prominent member of the Jazz Epistles, Abdullah Ibrahim is the other patriarch of South African jazz. Regarded today as one of the world's finest pianists, adored by all fans of the genre, he is the first African jazzman to achieve worldwide renown, a reputation acquired in particular during his years in exile (he met Ellington in Zurich in 1963, which propelled his career). In the 1960s, playing jazz in South Africa meant promoting black culture, fighting against apartheid and, ultimately, an act of resistance. Imbued with the avant-garde spirit of the Americans John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins, this whole scene of activist musicians was, like Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim, constantly harassed, arrested and, ultimately, driven into exile. All the great names of jazz at the time were involved: saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi (1925-1983), nicknamed the "Charlie Parker of South Africa", singer Sathima Bea Benjamin (1936-2013), pianist Chris McGregor (1936-1990), bassist Johnny Dyani (1945-1986) and the celebrated Myriam Makeba (1932-2008). She was one of her country's biggest stars - thanks in no small part to her hit Pata-Pata - but was forced into exile for almost thirty-one years and stripped of her nationality. It was during her American period that she sang her most beautiful traditional a cappella tunes in Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho, including the traditional wedding song The Click Song(Qongqothwane in Xhosa) and Malaika.
Today, South African jazz continues to attract international attention, with a number of fine musicians perpetuating the local heritage, such as trombonist Siya Makuzeni, who blends jazz, funk and hip-hop, pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, inspired by Abdullah Ibrahim and signed to the legendary Blue Note label, and SPAZA, an avant-garde jazz ensemble.
Over the years, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival has become a major international event for all jazz fans. With some forty international and African groups performing to an audience of 15,000 each year, the event is simply unmissable.
In Johannesburg, Niki's Oasis Jazz Restaurant in the Newton district offers some very good jazz, and in Cape Town, theArtscape Theatre Complex can also put together a fine line-up of contemporary jazz.
The mbaqanga
Alongside jazz, a typically South African style developed in the 1960s: mbaqanga. Invented in 1962 in the townships by West Nkosi and popularized in 1964 by Simon Mahlathini, mbaqanga is often defined as a genre with roots in Zulu music, somewhere between the swing of American big bands and the repetitive aspect of marabi. A symbol par excellence of South African urban culture, the genre quickly gained in importance, carried by stars such as the Mahotella Queens, the African Swingsters or Mahlathini, the "lion of Soweto", the real core of the genre around which the whole scene was built, all great local names who kept mbaqanga alive until it turned into bubblegum in the 1980s, influenced by pop and disco. The excellent compilation Next Stop Soweto published by the (often fabulous) label Struten 2010 documents very well the great moments of this mbaqanga scene.
The pop
In the 1980s, the disco wave swept through South Africa. Local music, particularly mbaqanga, changed rhythm and color, and was infused with synthesizers and electronics. This flashy, joyful, acidic music was quickly branded bubblegum by the local media, who saw it as a sweet, disposable concoction with no real artistic interest. And yet, the genre is home to some of the country's most important stars (in terms of fame and sales), including Brenda Fassie, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Rebecca Malope and Chicco Twala (who is more committed, with his We Miss You Manelo dedicated to Mandela). Here again, an excellent compilation is recommended: GumbaFire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth Boogie in 1980s South Africa released in 2018 by Soundway Records, an object that wonderfully captures this vibrant scene.
The 1980s also saw the emergence of one of the country's best-known stars: Johnny Clegg. Nicknamed the "White Zulu", his mass-market pop was one of the musicians who did most to promote South Africa's image in his day. He died of cancer in 2019. Today, local pop is still going strong, pampered by artists such as Petite Noir, who has charmed stages the world over with his cool, chic music, which he describes as "noirwave".
Electronic music
Something striking about South Africa is how popular house and deep house music is. Although it originated in Chicago in the 1980s, house music - and its more soulful counterpart deep house - has found a home here: it is played in the middle of the day on music channels or radio, children and old people dance to it, in short, it is not at all restricted to night owls or clubs. In short, house music here is an integral part of pop music. In fact, the giant of South African house music, Black Coffee, is something of a pop star. Full of soul, regularly incorporating elements of traditional music, Black Coffee's house music features vocals and often welcomes famous singers like Pharrell Williams.
This prominence of house music in the country has also given rise to many sub-genres, some of which have become mainstays of the music industry. This is notably the case of kwaito. Kwaito is to South Africa what grime is to England: local hip-hop. A syncopated music from the townships of Johannesburg, kwaito is actually a very slowed down, bass-heavy, languid house music that someone is rapping to. Like hip-hop, kwaito has become a movement, a culture, a way of life (close to American hip-hop, which is regularly reproached) embodied by stars. The "king of kwaito" is Arthur Mafokate, one of the pioneers of the genre with Lebo Mathosa and his group Boom Shaka who opened the door to many artists: TKZee, Mandoza, Bongo Maffin or more recently the very good group Batuk led by the travelling producer Spoek Mathambo. Also, the famous duo Die Antwoord and their crazy rap-rave can be considered as a rabid version of kwaito.
Recently, the latest local derivative of house music is called gqom (some pronounce it "djikomou", others "klôm"). Emerging in the townships of Durban in the early 2010s under the influence of the duo RudeBoyz, this minimalist, raw and chilling electronic music mixes traditional South African music with stripped down and experimental house. The result is warlike, feverish and hypnotic and is exported very well, led by its standard bearers DJ LAG or DJ Mo Laudiqui who now play in major European clubs.
Some good places to go to taste the local electro in Johannesburg: the Living Room, not only the nicest rooftop of the city but also a club with a good program, Kitchener's Carvery Bar, a trendy 100 year old pub that attracts the trendy youth with its good DJ sets, the Taboo, more sophisticated but often offering a quality program In Cape Town, the Cape Town Electronic Music Festival is a meeting place for fans of cutting edge electronic music.
