The Indestructible Beat of Soweto

Various Artists

album cover

From the Townships a New Kind of Jive

Spend some time with these songs, which were recorded in Soweto between 1980 and 1984, and you may develop renewed appreciation for the indomitable human spirit. The musicians and singers represented on this compilation were creating this lighthearted, incredibly buoyant music during the South African apartheid. Though they make veiled acknowledgment of the political situation, these musicians are not overtly in the protest business—they're entertainers singing about courtship and gossip, and they're interested in creating a rhythmic escape. They do this with impressive style, a sound that is both ebullient and marked by fierce determination.

This anthology gathers music heard on Soweto radio in the early 1980s, the moment when the upbeat dance style known as mbaqanga swept through the townships of South Africa. The mbaqanga beat was not exactly brand-new (it contains elements of township jive and marabi, popular forms of the 1960s, as well as jazz and R&B), and some of the singers, including Mahlathini and the inspired Amaswazi Emvelo, were established names. But the springy grooves carry the force of radical newness. They're like a blast of Black Sabbath after a steady diet of the Carpenters.

It only takes a few moments in the company of these suave syncopations to understand why Paul Simon and other rock artists were so enchanted by this music. (Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the choir that collaborated with Simon on Graceland, performs the transfixing "Nansi imali" here; this and other tunes could have provided Simon inspiration for his project.) More individual is Amaswazi Emvelo, whose "Thul'ulalele" is like a church service in miniature. These radiant, gloriously synchronized voices aren't ignoring what they face out in the world every day. They're just shifting the focus higher. Liberating themselves from the well-documented hatred and intolerance, they choose to celebrate light, joy, possibility—qualities that help make this music truly indestructible.

Genre: World, South Africa
Released: 1986, Shanachie
Key Tracks: Ladysmith Black Mambazo: "Nansi imali." Umahlathini Nabo: "Qhde manikiniki"
Next Stop: Mzwakhe Mbuli: Resistance Is Defence
After That: Soweto Gospel Choir: Voices from Heaven.
Book Page: 814

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