#Jabavu

[federer7]

Wedding photography at the Oppenheimer Memorial. Jabavu, Soweto. 1972

[joeinct]

Young men with Dompas, White City, Jabavu, Soweto, Photo by David Goldblatt, 1972

[formandtone]

Simphiwe Dana: Bamako

Simphiwe Dana released her highly anticipated fifth studio album on 24 April 2020. In terms of anniversaries, it’s a big year for Dana whose albums Kulture Noir and Firebrand were released 10 and 5 years ago respectively .

 It is a nod to the city after which it is named, Bamako. Out of all her albums this one is a display of vocal prowess we don’t often have the pleasure of hearing.Dana sounds like she is at her most powerful harnessing various textures and colours of her voice. It seems now more than ever is her time to experiment with range, not only just how high or low her voice can go, but the many ways she can contort it as a means of bringing her lyricism to life. Dana is considered one of this generation's voices of political consciousness. Professor Pumla Gqola’s A Renegade Called Simphiwe has gifted readers interested in the star, or readers interested in how we archive figures of our popular culture a detailed analysis to the meaning of the persona Simphiwe Dana as a cultural and political icon of this generation. But there are very few occasions when we reflect on the power of Dana as a composer. 

Bamako is her latest invitation to think through how she uses the aural to celebrate progress in African music. Thinking about this album during Africa month is even more poignant as this opus pretty much celebrates the Pan-African strides music has made in the past 60 years since the ‘west wind’ (to borrow from Miriam Makeba’s song) of independence swept the African continent. African artists have a longstanding tradition of collaboration and musical cross-pollination. Dana is the latest to extend on this with her work with legendary Malian artist, Salif Keita and his band. 

This collaboration’s significance is further accented by the upcoming 25th anniversary of Keita’s Folon. This is important to note as one of the songs, “Masibambaneni” is merged with Keita’s iconic single “Africa”. Keita has always been interested in advancing African music and particularly the connections between African artists probably far more than any other artist of his generation. Keita has always been at the cusp of genre bending with his voice belting out notes over the sound that is a combination of electronic and traditional instrumentation. Keita, who is of royal descent traceable to Soundiata Keita who founded the Mandinka Empire in 1240 along with his peers like Youssou N'dour, Mory Kante and Oumou Sangare who hail from various parts of this region musically hold together the remnants of a history that stretched much further than the confinements of the Berlin Conference. 

There is an aspect of the album that guides us to perceive Bamako in a specific way. The opening song, the experimentation onomatopoeically with synths, an imitation of the opening bars invites warmth to our ears. There is the sense that Dana as producer wants us to experience the city that inspired this work. Of course there are the instruments which are distinct to Mali however the arrangements in their entirety bring the city to our ears. Dana takes us along on her pilgrimage to one of Africa’s ancient cultures. She also does something I doubt has ever really been successfully executed by an artist so consistently. The vocal and instrumental traditions of two very distinct countries converge on this album so neatly and effortlessly, making this collaboration between these genius artists ever more exciting. Both are interested in listeners experiencing our genres anew, smashing the borders we create by categorizing creativity and unknowingly or knowingly locking artists in labels that don’t quite make sense to musicians interested in the boundlessness of composition. 

Genre bending allows us to actually listen to music and what it communicates to our spirit.

A lot of young South Africans are likely to have been introduced to Keita’s work among other West and East African icons like Kadja Nin and Ismael Lo through the “Simunye: We Are One” era of SABC 1 when the channel would stream Channel O.

For those who weren’t born then, there is Bamako. 

One of the reasons the album is of interest to me is because of the historical links we listeners can make. This year is a historically important year for South Africa. Many have honoured the release of South Africa’s first black president. However another unprecedented moment took place this year 110 years ago. On 21 September 1910 Mpilo Walter Benson Rubusana (WB Rubusana) won a seat in the Cape Provincial Council of the Union of South Africa, the same year the Union was officially founded. This history comes to mind when Simphiwe sings, “Zemk’ inkomo magwalandini” which borrows the title of Rubusana’s poetry collection- the first by a black writer to ever be published. Born in 1858, a year after the infamous Cattle Killings of pre-colonial Eastern Cape, Rubusana’s decision to even campaign for a seat in the Council was sparked by betrayal. Of this moment public intellectual Pallo Jordan writes: 

“Walter Rubusana’s candidacy in the Provincial Council elections of 1910 was correctly considered by all observers as a bold step indeed. Two years previously, in an editorial written by John Tengo Jabavu, the African electors of the Cape had assured the white electorate that they felt no need to put forward African candidates in elections because of their faith in the fairmindedness of their white counterparts. Such faith had been found to be misplaced when the Constitution for the Union of South Africa was drawn up with its notorious ‘colour bar’ clauses. Rubusana’s candidacy was a response to this affront, as well as an act of political self-assertion on the part of the African electorate of the Cape who had too long allowed themselves to live in the shadow of the white liberal political establishment. Rubusana was chosen as the instrument for these purposes because of the prestige he enjoyed within the black community and in recognition of his personal contribution to the political struggles of that community.”

The second is the song “Mkhonto” whose arrangement sounds very similar to igwijo in honor of Solomon Mahlangu, an Umkhonto We Sizwe operative executed by the apartheid regime on 6 April 1979. Some of South Africa’s popular struggle songs were composed by musically trained vocalists. For example the Port Elizabeth born activist, poet, dancer, actor and singer Vuyisile Mini who penned “Ndod’ Emnyama” was a bass singer in the PE Men’s Vocal choir. South Africa has a rich choral culture which is not surprising that amagwijo were composed so easily on the spot. It’s also probably why they are mostly in rondo form given their shortness. They never really digress beyond the couplet, which is simply the main melody and slight change that feels like a verse. “Zabalaza” is another that uses the igwijo model whose effect is closely tied to repetition for the stirring of emotion. The beauty of a vamp is though you sing the same melody, you actually never sing it the same way. Dana achieves this through the dynamics in her voice-how it rises and falls at various points. 

As it pertains to the political, Dana expresses disdain for the decline in our state of affairs, where it appears that a people-centred political mandate has been abandoned for looting of resources and abuse of power by those elected in power. Dana’s further reference of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s words spoken, “singayisusa nanini' in “Uzokhala”' is an artist reminding people of their power to bring about revolution, while using “Usikhonzile” to imagine humane leadership for which the likes of Rubusana are remembered. 

For the most part Dana preoccupies herself with love and heartbreak with some tracks like “Kumnyama” and “Bye Bye Naughty Baby” and taking on the feel of preludes scaffolding the albums overarching theme. Dana has never gone down this path in terms of themes as far as she has with this album. Black South African artists are usually expected to provide political commentary, they are barely expected to bring their humanity in all its nuances to their work. Dana talking so openly about the complexities of love is unexpected from an artist like her. This work sees Dana unburden herself from this weird expectation proving just how very versatile her pen is. Love in Dana’s world traverses various landscapes. There is love in ethical leadership as she shows in “Usikhonzile”. There is also love in closing the door on relationships that aren’t reciprocal. And as demonstrated in “Mr I” there is love in acknowledging the difficulties of leaving, in exhausting all possibilities as an attempt to salvage a relationship. This work looks closely at the debris left in the wake of a broken heart and she acknowledges that sometimes there are no easy answers if at all, and there is no way forward except to retreat and lick wounds. 

Dana’s music is heavy laden with meaning. There is never anything final about the subject matter she explores in her music. Listening to this album feels like being asked a series of questions. Dana pushes us to think differently about the world. Where lyrics fail, it is music that fills in the gaps. I particularly enjoy the weightedness in the introductory verse of “Gwegweleza”, a song that addresses the unfair financial burdens placed on single mothers by absent fathers. Because Dana is interested in change, there is the sense that she asks men whether they are going to continue with their deadbeat behavior. For how long are we going to exist in a world where an alarmingly high number of men continue to be irresponsible? 

Her deliberate and careful structuring of the music with her legendary co-producer is reflective of an artist who not only aims to entertain, but who wants us to imagine with her a better world, and from there proceed to bring it to existence. 

[tebogoseageng]

Soweto, Jabavu Central Western.

[standingatthefence]

David Goldblatt | Young Men with dompas, White City, Jabavu, Soweto, November 1972 

November 29, 1930 - June 25, 2018

[originalbailiffcopmaker]

Pld Business Projects is one of best in in Soweto and operate all over Gauteng region and offers you affordable prices in manufacturing and reupholstery contact me in this number 0781448313 (at White city jabavu, Soweto) https://www.instagram.com/p/CW_NdbyA_CT/?utm_medium=tumblr

[federer7]

Jeunes hommes montrant le dompas, pièce d’identité que tout Africain âgé de plus de 16 ans devait porter sur soi. White City, Jabavu, Soweto, Johannesburg, novembre 1972

© David Goldblatt

Courtesy David Goldblatt et Goodman Gallery Johannesburg et Cape Town

Enlarge

[eenblond]

Shaka, the Jabavu cat #eenblondtours #soweto #sowetostyle #sowetotourism #joburg #joburgtour #meetsouthafrica #southafrica  #travel #travelgram #travelblogger #jozigram #citylife #travellers #travelmoments #tourguide #touroperator #wedotourism #tourism #travellust #femaletravel (at Soweto, Gauteng) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVOKe9CqYs7/?utm_medium=tumblr

[joeinct]

Young Men with Dompas, White City, Jabavu, Soweto, Photo by David Goldblatt, 1972

[king-jr-photographs]

#King_Jr_Photographs #thelshape bar and Eatery #King_Jr_project 146 (at White city jabavu, Soweto) https://www.instagram.com/p/CO_IR4EDzzM/?igshid=1szky01gf3qlq

[iol247]

PARTS OF SOWETO COULD FACE DAYS WITHOUT POWER AFTER SUBSTATION DAMAGED - ESKOM

Affected areas include Western Jabavu, Jabavu, Mofolo Central, Molapo and White City.

JOHANNESBURG - Eskom said that its technicians were working to restore power to large parts of Soweto after a blackout allegedly caused by vandalism.

Eskom described the situation as “one of the biggest incidents of vandalism it’s ever encountered”.

https://ewn.co.za/2021/05/07/parts-of-soweto-could-face-days-without-power-after-substation-damaged-eskom

Submitted by  TotusTuus

[aokiyamashita]

An opening of introducing Noni Jabavu from an unusual event.

‘When, in 1961, the long-running English literary magazine The Strand relaunched as The New Strand, it made newspaper headlines across the world. Although the London-based periodical had an illustrious history—founded in 1891, it counted the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle (whose Sherlock Holmes stories debuted in its pages), Agatha Christie, and P. G. Wodehouse among its contributors—its reinvention was hardly breaking news. What was, though, was the identity of its new editor: Noni Jabavu, the Black, South Africa–born writer, journalist, and broadcaster. A woman editor would have been surprise enough, but appointing a Black woman was unheard of at the time. Ernest Kay, joint proprietor of The New Strand (with the crime novelist John Creasey), defended this “bold and imaginative” choice in the press. “Miss Jabavu has led such a varied life that she will bring a completely fresh outlook to the magazine,” he told Ebony in April 1962. “She couldn’t be conventional if she tried.”’

#Rhetoric

[aprpresents]

‘Noni Jabavu’, 2020

Graphite on Paper

21 x 29 cm

(Film Crop)

Commissioned by Sis’ Nomalizo Khwezi on the occasion of her Promotion to Brink Publishing Head of Textbooks.

[miss-rosen]

DAVID GOLDBLATT ON VIEW AT PARIS PHOTO: GOODMAN GALLERY Miss Rosen for Huck

David Goldblatt was just 18 years old when the National Party was elected to power in South Africa – a group which institutionalised legal segregation that systematically exploited and oppressed the majority black nation. His new book, Structures of Dominion and Democracy (Steidl) begins in 1949 and continues through 2016, taking us across a sweeping arc of history that is sensitive to the ways in which apartheid penetrated every aspect of life for men, women, and children, both black and white.

In Goldblatt’s hands, the camera became a tool that allows him to not only record the moment, but to be an extension of the event itself. “This strange property of the photograph… creates tension,” he writes in an essay titled “Why and What” at the beginning of the book. “It pulls between a heightened awareness of reality and a growing recognition of its possible photograph. For me, this tension is part of the excitement.”

Read the Full Story at Huck

Top: David Goldblatt. Soweto: Young men with dompas, White City, Jabavu.

Bottom: David Goldblatt. Drum majorette, Cup final, Orlando Stadium, Soweto. 1972.

[king-jr-photographs]

#King_Jr_Photographs #thelshape bar and Eatery #Lady P aka Philisile #King_Jr_project 144 (at White city jabavu, Soweto) https://www.instagram.com/p/COtLAc6jNBu/?igshid=bca27ikne922