Portal to boost African music
Much of the popular music coming out of Europe and the US today can trace its roots back to Africa, yet music from the continent is little known. Artists rarely find recognition beyond their own countries.
South African jazz greats shine at London festival
The best of South African jazz was on stage at the Vortex Jazz Club in the UK late last month as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, one of the world’s premier jazz events.
Karoo music lends weight to TV series
Vlug na Egipte is special: the locally produced television series is the first production to have a soundtrack composed especially for it. Shot around the Karoo town of Hanover it will begin airing from 13 January on local satellite station kykNET, the series is set in Hanover, in the Karoo.
Music van de Caab keeps Khoi and San music alive
The Solms Delta wine estate in Franschhoek, in the Western Cape, goes by a tag line that says the farm is much more than just a wine estate. True to its word, Solms-Delta does not only produce classical wines, but classical music as well.
Ubuntu comes to the Big Apple
It has been 20 years since South Africans of all colours queued for hours to cast the first democratic vote in the country's history. At home, South Africans are building a noisy, questing identity built on the promise of an admired constitution.
Shifting perspectives: a history of Shifty Records
It was the 1980s in South Africa that saw the birth of a new local music scene, as artists sought to voice their protests against apartheid and the stifling conservatism of the time through music that spoke of the real South African experience.
Tinariwen sings the story of the vanishing Tuareg
At the southern end of the Tanzerouft plain in the Sahara, west of the rocky Adrar des Ifoghas Mountains, sits the town of Tessalit. Tanzerouft is a place so barren and vast, a National Geographic wit once put it: "It is said that migrating birds land beside people just for company."
Shout musicians sing to end violent crime
On the evening of 18 October 2007 legendary South African reggae musician Lucky Dube was dropping his son and daughter off at their uncle's house in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, when hijackers pumped two bullets into him at close range.
Daveyton to NY: Lira's still singing her heart out
Daveyton sits in the centre, between Benoni, Springs and Boksburg. It was most famous for producing some of the country's best footballers, being the township where kotas – a quarter loaf of bread with your choice of filling – were invented, and the home of the largest assemblage of vintage Chevrolets.
Music made for Mandela
Atticus Finch, the champion of To Kill a Mockingbird, is the ideal fictional hero. He is the calm at the centre of the book, the polite strength who believes in the mind above the fist.
Emotional connection the core of Mashika's music
Zethu Mashika looks like any young man walking around Melville in Johannesburg. He wears faded jeans, an old T-shirt and Converse All Star sneakers.
McGregor's music captures the African village
At the 1963 Moroka-Jabavu Jazz Festival in Soweto, the crowd went wild over a slightly-built pianist named Chris McGregor. But they also wondered why he wore a cap that covered most of the top of his head.
Songbird Kubeka remembers songs for Mandela
You can hear Abigail Kubeka running through scales as she warms up her voice. From somewhere in her Soweto home, you hear the opening notes of Yini Madoda, a favourite song about the indomitable spirit of rural women.
First batch of artists for TribeOne Dinokeng named
Macklemore and Lewis have been announced as the headline act on the Diamond Fields main stage at the TribeOne Dinokeng Festival in September.
Cape Town Jazz Safari, with Andulela Experience
Fresh from another spectacularly successful Cape Town International Jazz Festival, the Mother City is plunging into Jazz Appreciation Month and, as always, it is offering a good, jazzy night out.
