Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Musical Apartheid Continues In S. Africa Local Musicians Demanding More Play

Associated Press

Switch on the radio and you’re more likely to hear Whitney Houston than Miriam Makeba. A typical record store has bins of American pop while home-grown talent sits on a few shelves marked “South African interest.”

It’s enough to make a local musician take to the streets - as about 500 did Wednesday to demand that state radio and television devote more time to South African music.

“We’re like foreigners in our motherland,” said Zulu singer Barbara Ndumo during the march to the headquarters of the South African Broadcasting Corp.

SABC has a virtual monopoly on television and radio here, with a few independent stations breaking the stranglehold. Except for isolated shows featuring traditional music, most stick to glitzy Western-produced videos and music, more popular with the teeny-bopper set.

Some blame the bias on apartheid, saying the government-run SABC has yet to change from the old days of relegating so-called “black” music to radio stations broadcast in tribal homelands.

Others point out the market dictates what sells.

Keith Lindsay, who manages SABC’s popular 5-FM station, said his listeners would switch off if they didn’t hear the international top-40 mix he offers.

“Commercial radio services have to appeal to the mass audience to maintain their listenership … Otherwise, we’re gone,” he said.

Ndumo said the SABC “rejection” of the traditional music she sings was especially painful because South African music has been embraced abroad.

She toured America with the popular musical Ipi Tombi in the 1980s. “They wanted us to show our African vibe, not copy Americans.”

Internationally known singer-guitarist Ray Phiri said he was marching Wednesday in defense of South African culture.

“I’m trying to save the little ground where I’m standing, so that people will one day see that it’s holy ground,” he said.

Paul Simon’s Grammy-winning “Graceland” album of 1986, based on African rhythms and featuring Phiri, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and other South African performers, gained an international audience for the African sound.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a choral group with compelling harmonies, went on to win a Grammy in 1987 for its “Shaka Zulu” album. Other South African performers, such as reggae singer Lucky Dube and Johnny Clegg with his band Savuka, are popular at home and abroad.

But lesser known talent find it difficult to break into the limelight.

“Some South African (radio announcers) say they are playing what the consumers want. When did they do that research to find out?” Phiri said. “If Graceland sold over 11 million copies worldwide, are they saying those 11 million people have the intelligence of babies?”