SA Rocks

This is the last of the SA Rocks Heritage posts. I know that I broke the mould for this weeks theme with a few posts, but they were unavoidable and topical.

Today’s post focuses on the proud, diverse and eclectic history of music in SA. I have tried to create as diverse a list as possible. But if there is something that you truly feel should be in this post please comment and let me know!

Here goes…

Early christian missionaries provided the first formal music training in SA. Enoch Sontonga, who wrote the national anthem Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika was one of the musicians that were successfully trained in this time.

We all know that music has close ties to politics in various ways and SA was no different. In the early 20th Century when government restrictions on blacks became more aggressive marabi was born:

Marabi was played on pianos with accompaniment from pebble-filled cans, often in shebeens, establishments that illegally served alcohol to blacks. By the 1930s, however, marabi had incorporated new instruments, guitars, concertinas and banjos, and new styles of marabi had sprung up. Among these were a marabi/swing fusion called African jazz and jive, a generic term for any popular marabi style.

A blog post about SA music would be incomplete without looking at Afrikaans music in the past and good old Seve Hofmeyer in the present (we love Steve!). Afrikaans music was quite obviously influenced by the Dutch. This progressively became more interesting as time passed Sokkie Sokkie became a firm Afrikaans favourite. From Wikipedia:

A sokkie is a social dance with a partner popular with some Afrikaners. It is also referred to in Afrikaans as “langarm”, a term used to describe the style of dance at a sokkie.

I am personally a big fan of the langarm. It is incredible to watch people that can do it properly. What a joy!

More recently we have seen the rap, RnB and Kwaito scenes pick up with force. I have found that SA rappers have tried a bit too hard to emulate the American rappers that are successful. This hasn’t really struck a note for me to be honest.

I absolutely love the Kwaito vibe that has taken off in SA. I love the feel, the approach and the groove that the Kwaito stars in SA.

Idols has recently created SA pop stars that the public support which I think is great!

And then my personal favourite is the fantastically South African approach to rock that has emerged of late in SA. Freshly Ground and Harris tweed are two of the bands that I associate with a new breed of distinctively SA rock music. The great oldies like Mango Groove cannot be forgotten.

Brilliant muso’s such as Johnny Klegg and the Soweto String Quartet are also unforgettable. Grammy award winners Ladysmith Black Mambazo partnered with Paul Simon over the years to create some phenomenal music.

OK, that’s it from me and my views/thoughts on the topic. Let me know what you think and if you have a better knowledge on the topic.

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• Bellville, Rock City – A South African Rock Music Documentary
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• BLK JKS take post-apartheid rock international

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