[Marxism] ANC govt terrified of music, says Hugh Masekela [?!?!]

Wed Aug 8 07:18:01 MDT 2007

Hugh Masakela's music was probably the first I'd ever heard from
South Africa, back in the 1960s. Below is a recently-posted 13
minute YouTube video of him performing his famous song about the
mineworkers who came from around the region to dig for coal, a
great performance of a hauntingly-beautiful, unforgettable tune.

Z. Pallo Jordan is currently Minister of Arts and Culture in the
government of South Africa led by the African National Congress.

Is it possible there is SOMETHING more to this than meets the eye???
Some kind of sour grapes about some business thing? I don't know,
but it makes me curious.

Pallo Jordan and his parents lived inMadison, Wisconsin in the 1960s.
He and I were in school and involved in politics there. His mother
Dr Phyllis Ntantala wrote a memoir "A Life's Mosaic" in 1993 which
included a chapter on the family's time in Madison. Some wonderful
person put the entire book online. Here's what she wrote about the
period and about her son Pallo, whom I knew back then. (I haven't
seen him now in fifteen or twenty years.)

These two chapters in particular are of interest:
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft4f59n98r/
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft4f59n98r&chunk.id=d0e4755

I keep on being puzzled about why these radicals living thousands
of miles away are on the perennial warpath against the African
National Congress. South Africa is a capitalist country and the
ANC and other liberation forces were unable to militarily defeat
apartheid, so they cut a deal with the apartheid regime whereby
they ANC took over the administration of the government, but left
the class foundations of society unchanged. The move to a system
of rule by black people - who are the overwhelming majority of
the population there, remains an achievement of immense historic
importance. Many grievances exist, but, up until the present time,
no serious alternative movement to the left of the ANC has arisen.

The percentage of blacks voting for the ANC remains as high as 
ever, though voter participation has declined. Simply attacking
the ANC, particularly from abroad as Hugh Masakela is quoted as
doing here, and as the various anti-ANC posters here regularly
do, is not the same as building an alternative on the ground in
South Africa itself. I'm not saying there is no alternative or
can be none. I don't think that. So far, however, none has as
yet been constructed.

And I don't know, and would be curious to know, how they think
that publishing such complaints as these by Hugh Masakela are
part of building some new and presumably more progressive or
revolutionary movement?

Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
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SAMRO Members Amongst Females Honoured by Minister Z Pallo Jordan
7 March 2007

SAMRO has had two of its members amongst close to 50 female 
musicians of the 1960s honoured by the Minister of Arts and 
Culture, Dr. Z Pallo Jordan in Midrand recently.

Ms. Constance Tununu Mhlongo and Ms. Gladys Setai were each
recognised for having recorded songs between 1960 and 1962, 
during the Night of the 60's Musician Awards ceremony.

"This is the second in a series of annual events at which we feature
our musical heritage...the promotion and preservation of South
Africa’s musical heritage is a responsibility we owe not only to its
progenitors, pioneers and contemporary practitioners, but also to
future generations who will find in it a firm foundation on which to
build," Minister Jordan said during his address.

In 2004 Miriam Makeba was credited for her contribution to South
African music and for how she used her art in the liberation
struggle. She, together with the likes of Letta Mbulu and Dudu
Pukwana, left the country in the '60s and had their difficulties
trying to find their place in the world music market.

http://www.samro.org.za/index.pl/samro_members_amongst___60s_females_honoured_by_minister_z_pallo_jordan
=====================================================================

Dr Z. Pallo Jordan, Minister of Arts and Culture,
pays tribute to the late Sipho Gumede 	 
28 July 2004

We as South Africans mourn the sad passing away of Sipho Gumede. Our
sincerest condolences to the family of Sipho Gumede and to the music
fraternity. Sipho Gumede’s musical maturity closely followed the
social and political genesis of South Africa’s development into a
democracy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Along with Caiphus Semenya, Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa and Letta
Mbulu, Gumede produced a musical show, “Buwa” which told the story of
South African music in the context of South African history. The show
was yet another example, where South Africans reached out to the rest
of the African continent and Europe. The world has consistently
reciprocated with warmth by supporting the cause against the
apartheid regime and in a democratic era, continuing to enjoy the
music enormously. Over the years, Gumede celebrated South African
culture by sharing his music in the world’s capitals. He toured
extensively throughout his career, along the way meeting and playing
with Harry Belafonte and Quincy Jones, just to name two luminaries
and supporters of human rights. With the cream of South African
talent, Gumede recorded a number of award winning albums and compact
discs. His output includes “Faces and Places,” “Down Freedom Avenue,”
“Ubuntu - Humanity” and “Blues for my Mother”. FULL:
http://www.dac.gov.za/speeches/minister/2004/Speech28Jul2004.html

===============================================================================
MESSAGE OF CONGRATULATIONS FROM MINISTER Z PALLO JORDAN 
TO THE CAST AND THE DIRECTOR OF TSOTSI FOW WINNING 
AN OSCAR AS THE BEST FOREIGN FILM
FULL:
http://www.ghettoruff.co.za/news.aspx?rmnewsid=107
===============================================================================

Dancing for Justice: Hugh Masekela

AS A CHILD, Hugh Masekela said his ambition was to "live inside the
gramophone, so I could be with all those people in there."

But it wasn't just love of music that made the future trumpet player,
flugelhornist and singer want to escape reality — it was the infamous
South African apartheid system of government that was first put into
place in 1948, when Masekela was 9 years old.

Masekela grew up to be one of his country's most famous jazz
musicians and, later, world-fusion pioneers, incorporating indigenous
musical styles, such as the hypnotic and lilting mbaqanga, with
improvisation and funk. But politics was always at the heart of
Masekela's dancing jams.

"The general fabric of thinking of all South Africans has always been
protest music because we've had 400 years of war," Masekela said. 
"In South Africa, we have very few songs about the weather or love."

But underpinning these fight songs were booty-friendly grooves.
"Almost every band was a dance band, because dancing is a major part
of our music," Masekela said.

"You can't do it without dancing — even when you're protesting. Dizzy
[Gillespie] used to tell me, 'Man, you come from a nation of dancing
fools. I want to be a part in that revolution.'"

Photo courtesy Times Square/4Q But Masekela's political leanings, and
the brutality of apartheid, forced him into exile in the early 1960s.
Masekela remained away from South Africa until 1990, when Nelson
Mandela was released from prison.

By the time apartheid ended in 1994, Masekela was recovering from a
near lifetime of alcohol and drug abuse, recharging his creative
batteries as well as his business developments in order to invest in
the new South Africa.

One of those companies is the revitalization of his old record label,
Chissa, which just licensed "Live at the Market Theatre," a disc of
greatest hits, to Times Square Records in the U.S.

"A lot of money was put into destroying our culture and to
impoverishing us and taking away our self-esteem," Masekela said. "We
have to reclaim ownership of our culture, of our dignity, of our
self-esteem."

» Zanzibar, 700 Water St. SW; with Tosin (first show) and Loide
(second show), Sat., $25-$50, 8:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.; 202-554-9100.
(Waterfront-SEU)

AT THIS WEBSITE YOU CAN HEAR A BEAUTIFUL PERFORMANCE BY HUGH MASAKELA
OF HIS FAMOUS SONG "Stimela" (Coal Train)

FULL:
http://www.readexpress.com/read_freeride/2007/07/dancing_for_justice.php

===============================================================================
ANC govt terrified of music, says Masekela
Johannesburg, South Africa 	
08 August 2007 07:23
Legendary South African musician Hugh Masekela believes he is no longer 
welcome as a performer in South Africa, the Times Online in London 
reported on Wednesday.
FULL
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleId=316093# 

================================
WALTER LIPPMANN
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
writer - photographer - activist
http://www.walterlippmann.com
================================