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| Arts in the Apartheid
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Under Apartheid street parades
were severely restricted, the Carnival banned from Green Point stadium in 1968
and both carnivals and demonstrations of any kind made impossible by the
Gatherings and Demonstrations Act of 1973.
Writers of the period including Alex La Guma, Richard Rive and
Albie Sachs expressed political opinion in their novels and diaries. Much of it
drew on personal experiences in jail, of District Six living, and of the impact
of forced removals.
Before forced removals, jazz musicians from different racial
groups were able to mix and decide who they wanted to play with. White
musicians, such as the pianist Chris McGregor, worked with black players,
including saxophonist 'Cup and Saucer' Nkanuka.
During the 1950s and '60s two traditions of jazz developed from
the popular dance-bands of Cape Town. One was influenced by American musical
styles; others practised what was to become known as 'Cape Jazz'. The latter
maintained that local jazz should be based in working class dance music,
whether it was 'African' marabi and kwela, or it was 'coloured' vastrap and
klopse.
One of the leading lights of Cape Jazz was Dollar Brand (later
known as Abdullah Ibrahim) who, with his Jazz Epistles, started to experiment
with old tunes when their Langa audience conveyed some disinterest at
American-inspired pieces.
His music became influenced by Pan-African politics. Tremolo
ornamentation (apparently based on the sounds of the Fish Horn) emerged more
often. One of Cape Jazz's best known pieces was 'Manenberg', a tune named after
the Cape Flats suburb formed by the Group Areas Act where crime was pervasive.
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