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Singing Against Apartheid: ANC Cultural Groups and the International Anti-Apartheid Struggle*

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 33; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057070701292848

1465-3893

Shirli Gilbert,

South African History and Culture

Abstract This article explores the ways in which music, together with cultural forms such as poetry, theatre and dance, was used to garner international support for the struggle against apartheid. It focuses on two of the African National Congress's most significant projects in this realm: Mayibuye, an agitprop group that achieved considerable success in Europe in the 1970s; and Amandla, which travelled widely as a party ambassador during the 1980s, offering large-scale performances incorporating music, theatre and dance. A central motivation for the article was documenting the work of these two ensembles, both of which made significant contributions to the development of cultural activity and yet remain virtually undocumented in the history of the movement and the struggle. The article's primary analytical interest is in how black South African popular culture came to play a role in the movement's work in exile, how it was recruited and re-packaged in order to appeal to foreign audiences, and the relationship between this and cultural activity that was more internally focused. The distinction between culture's role in external propaganda work as opposed to internally-focused nation-building – although not often clearly made in ANC discourse – helps to situate the contributions of these two groups within the larger context of culture and the struggle. Further, it helps to explain the difficulties faced by those trying to revive Amandla in post-apartheid South Africa, an initiative that ultimately has not come to fruition. In exploring how music was mobilised by the ANC in the international arena, the article seeks to understand the importance and distinctive value of propaganda-focused cultural activity to the movement, as well as its necessary and inevitable limitations. * Thanks to Barry Feinberg, David William Cohen, Nancy Hunt, Gwen Ansell, Grant Olwage, Brett Pyper, Jane Taylor, Sandra Swart, Genie Deerman and two anonymous reviewers for the Journal of Southern African Studies for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. I am also indebted to the Michigan Society of Fellows for its generous support. Notes * Thanks to Barry Feinberg, David William Cohen, Nancy Hunt, Gwen Ansell, Grant Olwage, Brett Pyper, Jane Taylor, Sandra Swart, Genie Deerman and two anonymous reviewers for the Journal of Southern African Studies for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. I am also indebted to the Michigan Society of Fellows for its generous support. 1 The word 'culture' occupies an important place in ANC vocabulary. While in a wider intellectual context the term bears multiple and contested meanings, within the movement its usage indicates a fairly clear conceptualisation of culture, in the words of Raymond Williams, as 'the works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activity'. The word was used to refer to music, literature and poetry, graphic arts, theatre, dance, as well as beadwork, crafts and other popular 'people's' arts. The widespread use of terms like 'cultural journal', 'cultural ensemble' and particularly 'cultural workers', as well as the ANC's conceptualisation of art more generally as a 'weapon of struggle', derives from Soviet ideas about art and the rhetoric of socialist realism. While I have attempted to minimise my use of more outdated terminology in the article (preferring in particular the more neutral 'cultural activity'), my use of the word 'culture' parallels its connotations within the movement itself, and is used interchangeably with the word 'art'. 2 A. Sachs, 'Preparing Ourselves for Freedom', in D. Attridge and R. Jolly (eds), Writing South Africa: Literature, Apartheid, and Democracy, 1970–1995 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 239–48. Sachs did not attend the seminar in person; his paper was read out to the group by another party member. 3 M. Langa, 'Interview with Albie Sachs', Rixaka, 1 (1990), p. 30. 4 Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), popularly known as MK, was the ANC's military wing. 5 In addition to several oral interviews and a collection of private papers, my documentation is based primarily on archival materials held at the UWC-Robben Island Mayibuye Archives. These materials are surprisingly extensive, and include sound and video recordings of performances; recordings broadcast by the ANC's underground radio station, Radio Freedom; performance scripts, programmes and reviews; photographs; ANC newspapers and journals; interviews with group members and ANC representatives, many conducted in exile; and other miscellaneous documentation. 6 Major works on the broad subject of black South African music include, among others, D.B. Coplan, In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1985); V. Erlmann, African Stars: Studies in Black South African Performance (Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1991); V. Erlmann, Nightsong: Performance, Power, and Practice in South Africa (Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1996); C. Ballantine, Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1993); M. Andersson, Music in the Mix (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1981); D. James, Songs of the Women Migrants: Performance and Identity in South Africa (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1999); and C.A. Muller, Rituals of Fertility and the Sacrifice of Desire: Nazarite Women's Performance in South Africa (Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1999). For a useful overview of thematic trends, see D. James, 'Musical Form and Social History: Research Perspectives on Black South African Music', in J. Brown, P. Manning, K. Shapiro et al. (eds), History from South Africa: Alternative Visions and Practices (Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1991), pp. 309–318. For reflections on more recent developments, see D.B. Coplan, 'God Rock Africa: Thoughts on Politics in Popular Black Performance in South Africa', African Studies, 64, 1 (2005), pp. 9–27. 7 The existing literature on freedom songs is sparse and variable. See, for example, H.Q. Kivnick, Where is the Way: Song and Struggle in South Africa (New York, Penguin, 1990); A.B. Pollard, 'Rhythms of Resistance: The Role of Freedom Song in South Africa', in A.M.S. Nelson (ed.), 'This is How we Flow': Rhythm in Black Cultures (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1999), pp. 98–124; M. Hamilton (ed.), Sing Freedom! Songs of South African Life (London, Novello, 1993) for a song collection with some commentary; and more recently D.B. Coplan with B. Jules-Rosette, 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika: From Independent Spirit to Political Mobilization', Cahiers D'études Africaines, 173–4 (2004). More general writing includes J. Sherman, 'Songs of Chimurenga', Africa Perspective, 16 (1980); L. Vail and L. White, 'Plantation Protest: The History of a Mozambican Song', Journal of Southern African Studies (hereafter JSAS), 5, 1 (1978); L. Vail and L. White, 'Forms of Resistance: Songs and Perceptions of Power in Colonial Mozambique', The American Historical Review, 88, 4 (1983), pp. 883–919. 8 For a range of early responses to Sachs's paper, see I. de Kok and K. Press (eds), Spring is Rebellious: Arguments about Cultural Freedom (Cape Town, Buchu Books, 1990). 9 Barry Feinberg's private materials: Mermaid Theatre Programme for Poets to the People. 10 B. Feinberg (ed.), Poets to the People: South African Freedom Poems (London, Allen & Unwin, 1974). 11 University of the Western Cape, Robben Island-Mayibuye Archives [hereafter MA], Historical Papers, MCH89: Script for Mermaid Theatre Poets to the People production. Further references to this performance and to Mayibuye's activities more generally are drawn from the same archival source (MCH89), which consists of hundreds of uncatalogued documents: correspondence, press clippings, programmes and flyers, scripts and other miscellaneous materials relating to Mayibuye. 12 At that time, Kasrils was writing and performing under the pseudonym A.N.C. Kumalo. 13 Author interview with Barry Feinberg, Cape Town, 28 April 2004. 14 Barry Feinberg's private materials: Poets to the People promotional pamphlet; author interview with Barry Feinberg. 15 MA, Historical Papers, MCH89: B. Feinberg, Mayibuye Report. The struggle between these positions persisted for much of Mayibuye's existence, although professionalisation came increasingly to be recognised as the only viable option as the group experienced increasing demand in the late 1970s. 16 B. Feinberg, 'Mayibuye – Cultural Weapon of the ANC', Sechaba (Third Quarter 1977), p. 41. 17 Those who came to play principal roles in the group included Godfrey Motsepe, Zarina Chiba, Melody Mancube, James Madhlope Phillips, Pallo Jordan, Bongi Dhlomo and Poppy Nokwe. 19 A.N.C. Kumalo [Ronnie Kasrils], 'Red our Colour', in Feinberg (ed.), Poets to the People, p. 58; MA, Historical Papers, MCH89: various performance scripts. 18 As Mayibuye was a voluntary organisation, the size of the group depended on where the performance was to take place, the funds available and which members were available to travel. 20 In the US context see, for example, S. Clark, 'Freedom Songs and the Folk Process', Sing Out!, 14, 1 (1964), pp. 13–14; P. Seeger, 'You Can't Write Down Freedom Songs', Sing Out!, 15, 3 (1965), p. 11; D. C. Hsiung, 'Freedom Songs and the Modern Civil Rights Movement', Magazine of History, 19 (2005), pp. 23–6. 21 James, Songs of the Women Migrants, p. 155. 22 MA, Historical Papers, MCH89: various performance scripts; MA, Oral History & Sound, RF 491. Thanks to Brenda Mhlambi (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) for these and subsequent translations. 23 Personal communication with Barry Feinberg, 4 July 2005. 24 MA, Film & Video, M5 and M6; MA, Photographs, A24-3-4 and uncatalogued print. 25 MA, Oral History & Sound, RF 491. 26 MA, Historical Papers, MCH89. 27 The record, titled Spear of the Nation, was produced in Hilversum, Holland as Varagram ET44. 28 MA, Historical Papers, MCH89: Feinberg, various drafts of report, c.1978–9. 29 Author interview with Barry Feinberg; T. Moema, 'Editorial', Medu Newsletter, 2, 1 (March 1980), pp. 1–3; Feinberg, 'Mayibuye', pp. 41–5. 30 Author interview with Judy Seidman, Johannesburg, 21 July 2004. 31 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA6-312: Interview with Barbara Masekela. 32 http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/or/or85-1.html: 'Render South Africa Ungovernable! Message of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress on the 73rd Anniversary of ANC' (8 January 1985), accessed 27 May 2004. 33 S. Gastrow, Who's Who in South African Politics, Number 5 (Johannesburg, Ravan Press 1995), p. 109. 34 Personal communication with Barry Feinberg, 4 July 2005. 35 See, for example, Jack Simons cited in G. Ansell, Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa (New York and London, Continuum, 2004), p. 247. 36 Author interview with Barry Feinberg. 37 For more on these performers see Ansell, Soweto Blues. 38 C. Szymczak, 'Music as a Cultural Weapon in the Life of Jonas Gwangwa' (MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 2003); 'Gwangwa Blows in from Exile to Excellence', Weekly Mail, 25 (1988); Ansell, Soweto Blues. 39 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-153 and MCA7-1511: Interviews with Jonas Gwangwa. 40 www.wfdy.org, accessed 4 June 2004. 41 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-161: Interview with Ndonda Khuze. 42 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA6-343: Interview with Man (Santana) Ntombela. 43 'Obituary' [Nomkhosi Mini], Rixaka, 3 (1986), p. 25; interview with Santana Ntombela. 44 Interview with Santana Ntombela. The funding for Amandla's travels generally came from solidarity groups in the countries where they performed. ANC representatives in those countries would co-ordinate expenditure and part of the funds raised would be left there to support further solidarity work. Some funds were also devoted to supporting the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (Somafco) in Tanzania. Author interview with Jonas Gwangwa, 13 August 2004, Johannesburg. 45 Author interview with Jonas Gwangwa; MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-153: Interview with Jonas Gwangwa. 46 Interview with Santana Ntombela. 47 These and further references to Amandla's activities are drawn from a range of archival sources: MA, Film & Video, VA11, VA30 and VA31; MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-1333, MCA5-1351, MCA5-041, MCA5-042, MCA5-043, MCA5-045, MCA5-156, MCA5-158, MCA5-159, MCA5-160, MCA5-161, MCA5-162, MCA5-163. 48 Mayibuye did, however, produce new musical arrangements for many of the freedom songs it performed. 49 MA, Film & Video, VA30, VA31; MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5–1333. 50 MA, Oral History & Sound, RF267, RF163, RF 356, MCA5-1333. 51 The Freedom Charter was the historic manifesto adopted at the Congress of the People at Kliptown on 26 June 1955. In this scene, around 20 performers stood in formation on the stage, one by one declaiming key phrases from the Freedom Charter: 'The people shall govern!', 'All national groups shall have equal rights!', 'The people shall share in the country's wealth!', 'All shall be equal before the law' and so on. 52 The United Democratic Front (UDF) was formed in 1983 as an umbrella organisation to co-ordinate resistance activities inside South Africa. See J. Seekings, The UDF: A History of the United Democratic Front in South Africa, 1983–1991 (Oxford, James Currey, 2000). 53 MA, Film & Video, VA30. 54 Author interview with Jonas Gwangwa; MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-161: interview with Ndonda Khuze. The refusal of apartheid notions of 'tribalism' was widespread in ANC discourse, particularly on the subject of culture; see for example 'Interview with Ruth Mompati', p. 20. Tambo also explicitly articulated this idea in an interview for the launch issue of Rixaka, arguing that while the apartheid government tried to separate non-whites into 'ancient "tribal" entities', the ANC conceived of a single people with a rich, diverse cultural heritage, and saw these diverse cultural forms as the possession of the people, rather than divisive forms of tribal identification. 'Interview with O.R. Tambo', p. 22. 55 Author interview with Jonas Gwangwa. 56 The toyi-toyi is a militant dance that ANC exiles probably learned from Zimbabwean guerrillas when they joined forces with ZAPU in the late 1960s. A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles defines the toyi-toyi as 'A quasi-military dance-step characterized by high-stepping movements, performed either on the spot or while moving slowly forwards, usu. by participants in (predominantly black) protest gatherings or marches, and accompanied by chanting, singing [of freedom songs], and the shouting of slogans.' (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 730. 57 Kwela is an extremely popular improvisational style that developed on township streets during the 1950s and 1960s, its primary instrument being the cheap and portable pennywhistle. As Louise Meintjes has suggested in a different context, the kwela sound brings with it particular associations as one of the most important expressive forms in the black townships during one of the most repressive decades of apartheid. L. Meintjes, 'Paul Simon's Graceland, South Africa, and the Mediation of Musical Meaning', Ethnomusicology, 34, 1 (1990), pp. 43–4. 58 Mbaqanga is a distinctively South African hybrid, composed of a blend of American swing, marabi (popular music that developed in shebeens during the 1930s) and a syncretic melodic style more closely related to 'neo-traditional South African music' than American jazz. Lara Allen explains that the term mbaqanga (Zulu for stiff maize porridge) was used disparagingly by musicians to refer to African jazz, particularly in its recorded form, because they played it in order to earn quick 'bread money'. C. Ballantine, 'Music and Emancipation: The Social Role of Black Jazz and Vaudeville in South Africa Between the 1920s and the Early 1940s', JSAS, 17, 1 (1991), p. 150; L. Allen, 'Commerce, Politics, and Musical Hybridity: Vocalizing Urban Black South African Identity During the 1950s', Ethnomusicology, 47, 2 (Spring/Summer 2003), p. 240. 59 Author interview with Jonas Gwangwa. 60 Ansell, Soweto Blues, p. 247. Ansell does not provide further details regarding these contacts. 61 At least one of the group's most prominent members, Ndonda Khuze, had been actively involved with Black Consciousness cultural activities inside South Africa; MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-161: interview with Ndonda Khuze. 62 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-1351 and MCA5-1333. 63 'Interview with Ruth Mompati', Rixaka, 2 (1986), p. 19. 64 Feinberg, 'Mayibuye', p. 43. 65 Author interview with Jonas Gwangwa; MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-166: Interview with Thabo Mbeki for Song of the Spear. 66 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-164: Interview with Thabo Mbeki for Song of the Spear. Song of the Spear was produced by the London-based International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa (IDAF) in 1986, was jointly sponsored by the ANC and IDAF, and was directed by Barry Feinberg. 67 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA5-168: Interview with Barbara Masekela for Song of the Spear. 68 These ideas appeared increasingly frequently, often almost verbatim, in a wide range of contexts. See, for example, B. Mooki, 'Popular Theatre and Struggle', Rixaka, 2 (1986), pp. 4–7; T. Williams, 'An interview with Thamsanqa Mnyele', Medu Newsletter, 2, 1 (March 1980), pp. 23-40; 'Interview with O. R. Tambo', Rixaka, 1 (1985), pp. 21–2; 'Message of the National Executive Committee of the ANC' (8 January 985); B. Masekela, 'Isolate Apartheid Culture', Rixaka, 3 (1986), pp. 7–9; 'Interview with Ruth Mompati', pp. 19–22. 69 M. Langa, 'The Quiet Thunder: Report on the Amsterdam Cultural Conference', Sechaba (March 1988), 26–7. 70 MA, Film & Video, S9: Song of the Spear. 71 T. Lodge, 'State of Exile: The African National Congress of South Africa, 1976–86' in P. Frankel, N. Pines and M. Swilling (eds), State, Resistance and Change in South Africa (London, Croon Helm, 1988), pp. 229–58. 72 R. Suttner, 'Culture(s) of the African National Congress of South Africa: Imprint of Exile Experiences', Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 21, 2 (May 2003), p. 306. 73 Further analysis of this issue lies beyond the scope of this article, particularly given the range of contexts in which the ANC was operating outside South Africa for over three decades. For more on exile and internal-external relations, see Suttner, 'Culture(s) of the African National Congress'; Lodge, 'State of Exile'; T. Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 (London and New York, Longman, 1983), Chapter 12; and Seekings, The UDF. 74 In an interesting parallel, a similar conceptual blurriness seems to have characterised the cultural boycott, probably the most visible dimension of culture in the international arena. Rob Nixon has argued that while the internal movement advocated using culture to reshape social life and institutions inside South Africa (in anticipation of transition), international representatives were focused on maintaining support for anti-apartheid abroad – a persistent conflict of approach that rendered the boycott 'symbolically powerful but strategically vexing'. R. Nixon, Homelands, Harlem and Hollywood: South African Culture and the World Beyond (New York and London, Routledge, 1994), p. 157. 75 The questions of how Amandla might have modified its performance for different audiences, particularly South African versus foreign audiences, and to what extent its historical narrative changed over the ten years of its existence, are difficult to answer precisely. Recorded evidence (both video and audio) of the performances themselves is sparse, and only fragmentary details emerge from interviews with former members. A fuller reception history of the group's international performances would enrich this research in important ways, but lies beyond the scope of this article. 76 Rixaka, 2 (1986), p. 29 reports, for example, that one Derek Tsietsi Makomoreng received five years' imprisonment earlier that year for possessing a cassette of Amandla's music. 77 B. Peterson, 'Apartheid and the Political Imagination in Black South African Theatre', JSAS, 16, 2 (1990), p. 234. 78 On theatrical trends inside South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, see R.M. Kavanagh, Theatre and Cultural Struggle in South Africa (London, Zed Press, 1985); D. Kerr, African Popular Theatre (London, James Currey, 1995); M. Orkin, Drama and the South African State (Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press, 1991); Peterson, 'Apartheid and the Political Imagination'; I. Steadman, 'Towards Popular Theatre in South Africa', JSAS, 16, 2 (1990), pp. 208–28; and B. Peterson, 'Performing History off the Stage: Notes on Working-Class Theater', in J. Brown, P. Manning, K. Shapiro et al. (eds), History from South Africa: Alternative Visions and Practices (Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1991), pp. 319–27. On Kente and township musical theatre see also Coplan, In Township Tonight!, pp. 207–15. 79 Steadman, 'Towards Popular Theatre', pp. 227–8. Steadman argues that plays that toured overseas, like Woza Albert!, Bopha and Sarafina, presented a simplified, 'marketed' image of political struggle, using familiar images like the toyi-toyi, the 'necklace' and freedom songs. For more on how South African musicians and shows were 'Africanised' for foreign audiences, see also Ansell, Soweto Blues, pp. 225–6. 80 Nixon, Homelands, Harlem and Hollywood, pp. 78–9. 81 MA, Oral History & Sound, RF541. 82 9 August 1956 marked the apex of the women's anti-pass campaign, when some 20,000 women converged to demonstrate at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Among the freedom songs sung at the event was the chant 'Wathint'abafazi, wathint'imbokodo, uzakufa' (You strike a woman, you strike a rock, you will be crushed), which was quickly appropriated in popular discourse, and become a powerful symbol of women's involvement in the struggle. 83 MA, Oral History & Sound, RF349 and RF433. 84 For discussion of Ipi Tombi and similar productions see Peterson, 'Apartheid and the Political Imagination', p. 234. See also Ansell, Soweto Blues, p. 181. 85 Nixon, Homelands, Harlem and Hollywood, pp. 94–5. 86 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA6-343: Interview with Man (Santana) Ntombela; personal communication with Barry Feinberg, 4 July 2005. 87 I. de Kok, 'Introduction', in de Kok and Press (eds), Spring is Rebellious, p. 11. 88 Langa, 'Interview with Albie Sachs', pp. 30–1; A. Sachs, 'Afterword: The Taste of an Avocado Pear', in de Kok and Press (eds), Spring is Rebellious, pp. 146–7. 89 See in particular R. Siers, 'Vampire Bats of Ambiguous Metaphors'; G. Younge, 'Running in the Sackrace'; and F. Meintjies, 'Albie Sachs and the Art of Protest'; all in de Kok and Press (eds), Spring is Rebellious, respectively pp. 57–67; pp. 80–84; pp. 30–35. 90 MA, Oral History & Sound, MCA6-312: Interview with Barbara Masekela.