Africa Is a Country

Igor Stravinsky’s South Africa

Igor Stravinsky’s South Africa

By
Sean Jacobs

Long before Sun City there was this kind of thing.

From Time Magazine, June 1, 1962:

Composer Igor Stravinsky was conducting the South African Broadcasting Corp.’s symphony orchestra [that’s the state broadcaster] in the first of five concerts for whites only (a sixth was reserved for blacks). Stravinsky had asked that seating be integrated, but the broadcasting authorities coldly refused. The maestro’s opinion: “Music takes precedence over politics. I don’t think about these things because it is outside my competence. I have so many other things to think about.”

h/t: Suren Pillay

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