Marabi Nights: Jazz, 'Race' and Society in Early Apartheid South Africa

by Christopher John Ballantine

This is the updated and substantially expanded second edition of Christopher Ballantine's classic Marabi Nights, which offers a fascinating view of the triumphs and tragedies of South Africa's marabi-jazz tradition. Based on conversations with legendary figures in the world of music - as well as a perceptive reading of music, the socio-political history, and social meanings - this book is one of sensitive and impassioned curatorship. New chapters extend the book's in-depth account of the birth and development of South African urban-black popular music. They include a powerful story about gender relations and music in the context of forced migrant labor in the 1950s, a critical study of the legendary Manhattan Brothers that uniquely positions their music and words in relation to the apartheid system, and an account of the musical, political, and commercial strategies of the local record industry. A new afterword looks critically at the place of jazz and popular music in South Africa since the end of apartheid, and argues for the continued relevance of the robust, questioning spirit of the marabi tradition. The book includes an illustrative CD of historic sound recordings that the author has unearthed and saved from oblivion.

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Fernando Pestana da Costa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very interesting book is an account of Black South African jazz from its beginning in the 1920s until the end of the 1950s. It is a fascinating history richly intertwined with political, social, and gender relations aspects that turns this book into a fascinating reading not only for jazz buffs. Given the obvious fact that the names of most (maybe even all) of the musicians referred to in this book are unknown to even moderately knowledgeable jazz connoisseurs outside South Africa (and maybe even in South Africa!), the fact that the book is accompanied by a CD with 25 tracks recorded from 1931 to 1948, with precious comments by the book's author, is a very big plus to an already excellent book. (The author also gives reference to six CDs of reissued music that are by artists, or related to topics, discussed in the book.) Spread through chapters on the beginnings of Vaudeville and Jazz in South Africa and their social roles in Black urban centers, on the connection with race, class, and gender, on the influence of the United States, and on the traumatic social shifts induced by the early apartheid legislation, in particular the disintegration of Black rural society and family through male migration and its reflection in the music of the 1950s, this work traces a enlightening panorama of the development of Black urban popular music in South Africa before the high mark of the apartheid system. I found it a fascinating reading!