With the 35th anniversary of the June 16, 1976 uprising by high school students in South Africa on our minds today (the uprising that started out in Soweto, triggered by the enforced instruction of black students in Afrikaans, ushering in a new era of resistance both inside and outside South Africa against white racism and economic exploitation), we thought it a good idea to put up some videos by young South African artists that have surfaced on the web over the past year (or so). It’s an eclectic bunch although the Johannesburg and Cape Town presence is heavy. Did we miss something? What else has come out of Durban, East London or Port Elizabeth recently that we don’t know of (and that we haven’t featured before)?
But let’s not kid ourselves, the big crowd-pullers are still the Professor:
…and everything else being put out by the Johannesburg-based production team Gorilla Films.
Nor should we fool ourselves into believing young South Africans can watch all of the above clips in one sitting these days without being cut off for having reached the limit of their monthly bandwidth. What the future holds for the South African youth will be decided this weekend; that is if they still care about that kind of politics or are looking elsewhere for leadership and inspiration or squat in West London.
And that’s your extended Music Break.
The only song I’m jamming to for June 16th is ma Letta Mbuli’s – Not Yet Uhuru, every other song or video made for this day can fall back because her track is the most relevant
@Busi: We’ll do a post on the classics next year.
I fully agree with u Busi, majority of these songs don’t speak to the realness of what 1976, June 16 represented. FREEDOM IS STILL ONLY BUT A WORD
And this comes from a 20 year old South Africa, so its not about being old school or stuck in classics *just incase u get it confused*
@Sinazo: Thanks for the comments. Fill us in on the videos we’ve overlooked over the past year.
Whether we agree/disagree about how young South Africans represent/express themselves musically, it does not mean we can’t show it (in fact see our one-liner at the end of the post.
On the classics, see here http://bit.ly/ipSGeb
I really like Tuks. I picked up a few of his albums when I lived in Cape Town. His “Tshwanelo” came out a little over a year ago. Bonus, the video is gorgeously filmed in Jozi (though I think he’s from Mafikeng originally).
@Adrian: Nice! Thanks. Let’s keep an eye on Tuks in the future. And on the skate scene.