By its nature, jazz doesn’t stick to the rules. Those who first performed this mainly improvised musical style in South Africa were rule breakers. They combined traditional African sounds with jazz and blues. They introduced modern instrumentation and additional elements of American jazz to musical forms that were deeply rooted in African traditions.
The Jazz Epistles were the first African jazz group to record an album in South Africa. The Sophiatown of the 1950s is known by many as the birthplace of South African jazz. It was a kind of cultural cauldron informed by South Africa’s unique context. The country was in the grip of harsh racial laws characterised by institutionalised repression and control.
Young people were looking for ways to assert their identity, challenge the state and change the status quo. It is no wonder then that jazz in South Africa – a musical form that is at once collaborative, personal and rebellious – attracted some of the country’s most talented musicians. They have since gone on to have an enduring influence on South African jazz.
Trumpeter, composer and vocalist, Hugh Masekela, is one of South Africa’s jazz giants. He started his music career playing with the Jazz Epistles band in the 1950s. When he returned from exile to South Africa in 1990, his country-wide tour won him passionate new fans, ensuring that he is as much in demand at home as abroad.
Another South African jazz giant, pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim, was influenced by the avant-garde music of the 1960s. When he slipped back into South Africa in the 1970s to record his masterpiece, ‘Manenberg’, he earned his place among South Africa’s greatest musicians. His sold-out performances continue to thrill jazz fans from around the world.
Caiphus Semenya was another exile who carved a name for himself as one of South Africa’s most highly regarded jazz musicians. While in the USA, Semenya worked with Masekela, Makeba and Jonas Gwangwa. He composed music for the movie, ‘The Color Purple’. He returned from exile in 1990 with his Grammy award-winning wife, Letta Mbulu. They still perform regularly.
Miriam Makeba started her music career as lead vocalist with the Manhattan Brothers in 1954. Her beautiful voice earned her a place in the jazz musical ‘King Kong’. She recorded 2 of her most beloved songs – ‘The Click Song’ and ‘Pata Pata’ – while in exile in America. She returned to South Africa in the 1980s, as popular as ever. She died in 2008, but her music and influence live on. (SouthAfrica.net)