Jazz music in South Africa developed from marabi, a 1920s township music style that jazz greats like built upon to create indigenous rhythms fused with world jazz forms.
A new generation of jazz musicians has taken these forms to come up with exciting jazz mixes that still have heavy traces of marabi and kwela, the foundational components of South African jazz music.
From Marabi to Jazz
Eight decades ago in the shebeens (township liquor establishments) of Johannesburg’s black townships, marabi was the craze of the moment. Popularised by such groups as The Jazz Maniacs, marabi was a music style similar to American jazz and blues with roots deep in the African tradition. It was sung by a solo voice accompanied by an organ, an accordion and later a guitar. Later, musicians like ‘Zuluboy’ Cele and Zakes Nkosi introduced modern instrumentation and elements of American jazz to the style.
Sophiatown
Sophiatown, that erstwhile cultural cauldron, was a breeding ground for most of the popular South African jazz legends. As musicians drew on and incorporated the American music style of bebop into marabi in the 1950s, marabi metamorphosed into what is now called South African jazz. Sophiatown began to spawn jazz groups like the Sophiatown Modern Jazz Club and the Jazz Epistles, and composers like Todd Matshikiza and Gideon Nxumalo.
Kings and Queens of Jazz
The likes of Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and Jonas Gwangwa, who were carving careers for themselves at that time in jazz music, went into self-exile when the jazz musical ‘King Kong’ took them overseas in the early 1960s. Despite their departure, a new generation of jazz performers like Sakhile and Bayete emerged in the 1970s and 1980s.
Hugh Masekela
Internationally acclaimed trumpeter, composer and vocalist, Hugh Masekela is arguably the most famous South African cultural ambassador-at-large. A noted musician, Masekela started his illustrious music career at the age of 20 as a trumpeter in the Jazz Epistles band in the 1950s. He has captivated international and local audiences with his mix of jazz, bebop, funk and Afrobeat. Masekela has released numerous hits beginning with his single ‘Grazing in the Grass’ in the early 1970s. His return to South Africa in 1990 saw him embark on a country-wide tour with the likes of Sankomota and Bayete. His latest album, ‘Sixty’, was released in 2000 and is a compilation of his new and old songs.
Mama Africa
Affectionately known as Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba was born in 1932 and started her music career as lead vocalist with the Manhattan Brothers in 1954. While touring Southern Africa with Alf Herbert’s African Jazz and Variety, she recorded with an all-woman group, the Skylarks. Makeba’s 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’ whilst in exile in America, returning to South Africa in the 1980s. Her most recent release, ‘Reflections’ scooped 3 awards South African Music Awards in 2004.
One of the greatest songstresses of our time, Miriam Zenzi Makeba, aged 76, passed away on 9 November 2008.
Caiphus Semenya
Another exile, Caiphus Semenya is one of South Africa’s most highly regarded talents both locally and abroad. Whilst in the USA with his wife, Letta Mbulu, Semenya worked with Masekela, Makeba and Jonas Gwangwa. Semenya composed music for the Steven Spielberg and Quincy Jones movie, ‘The Color Purple’. Best known in South Africa for his collaborations with Mbulu, Semenya has released hits such as ‘Ela Ngwanyana’, ‘Angelina’, ‘Ziphinkomo’ and ‘Matswale’. He returned from exile in 1990 and released his hit album ‘Woman’s Got a Right to Be’.
Letta Mbulu
Songstress Letta Mbulu grew up in the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto and was greatly influenced by traditional and contemporary urban South African music. She joined the cast ‘King Kong’ in the early 1960s, a move that took her to Europe and later to America as an exile. She played the lead role in the musical ‘Buwa’ that toured Africa in 1987, alongside Hugh Masekela and other musical greats. A Grammy Award winner, Mbulu has performed on numerous occasions with her husband, Caiphus Semenya, and released her first album ‘Not Yet Uhuru’ when she moved back to South Africa in 1990.
Abdullah Ibrahim
Internationally acclaimed pianist/composer, Abdullah Ibrahim, impressed even the likes of Duke Ellington when he performed in Switzerland in 1962. His trip to America in the 1960s saw his music taking on the influences of the 1960s avant-garde and when he managed to slip into South Africa in the 1970s, he recorded his masterpiece, ‘Manenberg’, with the some of country’s other great jazz musicians like Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen.
The New Jazz Generation
Today, a new breed of performers has surfaced, blending contemporary music with jazz. These performers are creating new forms by fusing South African rhythms and world jazz trends. The likes of Gloria Bosman, Jimmy Dludlu and Busi Mhlongo, together with young talent like Simphiwe Dana, Zamajobe and Siphokazi add some new spice to the way people look at jazz.
This new generation is also resurrecting the marabi style to create a new kind of jazz that appeals to both young and old. Musicians like Moses Molelekwa and Zim Ngqawana are blending folk songs, the harmonica and the marabi piano, taking South African jazz music to a new level.
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