On 27 April 1994, after decades of white supremacy and apartheid (racial segregation), South Africa held its first democratic elections. On this day, the nation celebrates the liberation of Black people across the country as well as the introduction of a new constitution.
With strict censorship and oppressive laws enforced on Black people, artists used music to communicate and address social and political issues. From candidly defiant songs inspired by Black political leaders and everyday life in the townships, to party-eccentric jazz anthems with concealed political messages, music played a significant role in the country's road to freedom.
In honour of Freedom Day this year, here are five legendary South African women who used music to combat apartheid, promote activism, and drive change.
1. Brenda Fassie
Known for her electrifying performances and a string of hit songs that defined an era, Brenda Fassie was a pop superstar and one of South Africa and the continent's highest-selling artists of her time. In 1990, Fassie released Black President, a tribute to Nelson Mandela and his comrades, following Mandela’s release from prison and the end of apartheid in 1990. On the track, Fassie sings, “I will die for my president” and chronicles both Mandela’s journey and the future she envisions for a free South Africa. “Music is one of the things that will change the new South Africa,” she once said in an interview about the scenes of unity she saw during her massive concerts attended by both Black and white people.
">2. Dorothy Masuka
Dorothy Masuka was a jazz singer and songwriter of some of Africa’s biggest hits of the 1950s, such as Hamba Nontsokolo which she penned at the age of 16. She composed hit songs like Pata Pata and Khawuleza, which were later performed and popularized by Miriam Makeba. In 1961, she recorded Lumumba, a tribute to the Congolese liberation politician and first democratic president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Dr. Malan, a song about the brutal apartheid laws. Both songs were banned and the master recordings seized by the apartheid Special Branch which tracked down activists. Masuka was forced into exile and lived in Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, where she continued to perform and campaign for freedom across Africa. In 2017, she was honoured with an Arts & Culture Lifetime Achievement Award for her immense contribution to South African music and culture.
">3. Letta Mbulu
Letta Mbulu went into exile in the United State during the 1960s, where she stayed for more than two decades before permanently returning to South Africa in 1997. While in the U.S., Mbulu worked with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, and her music was featured on the films Roots, The Color Purple, and A Warm December. Mbulu took a direct and candid approach to address what was happening back home, sending messages of hope to the nation in Nonqonqo (To Those We Love), and detailing the effects of apartheid on Black South Africa in the controversial Not Yet Uhuru, a song that addresses poverty in Black communities after the first democratic elections. “We can talk about freedom but when certain structures are not in place we can’t call what we have freedom,” Mbulu once said in an interview about the song.
">4. Miriam Makeba
In 1960, at age 26, Miriam Makeba was banned from returning to her homeland after attending the Venice Film Festival where she was labelled the breakout star of the festival for her sterling performance in Come Back, Africa, a film about the lives of Black people living under the apartheid regime. In her 30 years in exile in which she lived in America, Europe, and Guinea, she released anti-apartheid songs such as Beware, Verwoerd! (Ndodemnyama) and Hurry, Mama, Hurry! (Khawuleza) from the Grammy-winning album An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba. Makeba became the voice of political struggle across the continent and in America where she was involved in the civil rights movement. In 1963, she became the first African artist to address delegates at the UN General Assembly in New York where she continued to denounce apartheid.
">5. Thandie Klassen
Born in 1931, Thandi Klaasen was a leading jazz singer who grew up at the multicultural, social hub of Sophiatown, one of the few multiracial suburbs that existed under apartheid. A mentor and early feminist, Klaasen was ahead of her time, speaking candidly about sexism and racial issues at a time of tremendous gender and racial discrimination. In Sophiatown, she emotionally sings about living her dreams before losing the place she called home when the suburb was destroyed in the 1950s and turned into an all-white neighbourhood by the government. Klassen’s singing talents led her to performances with the likes of Patti Labelle and Roberta Flack.
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