WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.540 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We are really glad 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:04.280 you could join us today. If you're someone who 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:06.179 looks for those rare moments where, you know, 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:09.480 music and major historical events collide, today's 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:11.919 topic is a phenomenal case study. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:13.980 It's an incredible story. Yeah. So our mission 00:00:13.980 --> 00:00:17.280 for this Deep Dive is driven by a really comprehensive 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.420 Wikipedia article. It details the history, the 00:00:20.420 --> 00:00:23.780 creation, and the legacy of a 1974 Cape Jazz 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:26.600 song called Manenberg. Composed by the South 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:29.760 African musician Abdullah Ibrahim. Right. And 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.259 we are going to look at how a nearly 14 -minute 00:00:32.259 --> 00:00:35.479 instrumental jazz track, and keep in mind, recorded 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:38.520 in a single improvised take, somehow managed 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:40.700 to function as an unofficial national anthem 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:43.799 of resistance and hope in apartheid -era South 00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.299 Africa. What's fascinating here is the paradox 00:00:46.299 --> 00:00:48.520 right at the center of this story. I mean, we 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:50.640 are analyzing a piece of music with absolutely 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.789 zero lyrics. None at all. There's no vocalist 00:00:53.789 --> 00:00:56.130 providing a message. There's no explicit call 00:00:56.130 --> 00:00:59.070 to action in the text. And crucially, no words 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:01.270 for a government censor to point to and ban. 00:01:01.509 --> 00:01:03.649 Which is wild when you think about it. Right. 00:01:03.909 --> 00:01:06.689 Yet the historical record shows this specific 00:01:06.689 --> 00:01:10.109 piece of music managed to convey a subversive 00:01:10.109 --> 00:01:13.430 political message that mobilized a massive demographic. 00:01:14.069 --> 00:01:16.769 How a purely instrumental piece achieves that 00:01:16.769 --> 00:01:19.290 level of communication, well, that's exactly 00:01:19.290 --> 00:01:21.920 what we are going to explore. To understand the 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:25.760 mechanics of that communication, we need to start 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.579 with the architect of the sound himself, Abdullah 00:01:28.579 --> 00:01:31.560 Ibrahim. Yes. He was born in Cape Town in 1934. 00:01:32.010 --> 00:01:34.530 The source material notes that before he converted 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:37.430 to Islam in 1968, he was actually known professionally 00:01:37.430 --> 00:01:40.269 as Dollar Brand. That's right. And based on the 00:01:40.269 --> 00:01:42.090 laws of the South African government at the time, 00:01:42.150 --> 00:01:45.069 his mixed racial heritage placed him into a very, 00:01:45.109 --> 00:01:47.349 very specific legal category. And that legal 00:01:47.349 --> 00:01:49.689 categorization is crucial context for you to 00:01:49.689 --> 00:01:51.370 understand. Under the Population Registration 00:01:51.370 --> 00:01:53.629 Act implemented by the apartheid government, 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:56.469 South Africans were strictly classified into 00:01:56.469 --> 00:01:58.750 racial groups. Right. The system was incredibly 00:01:58.750 --> 00:02:02.510 rigid. Extremely. Ibrahim was officially classified 00:02:02.510 --> 00:02:05.950 as a colored person. This was a legal designation 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:09.009 for people of mixed heritage, and it dictated 00:02:09.009 --> 00:02:10.830 literally everything, where you were legally 00:02:10.830 --> 00:02:13.710 allowed to live, work, and travel. So his whole 00:02:13.710 --> 00:02:16.889 world was defined by this. Yes. And that specific 00:02:16.889 --> 00:02:19.669 heritage, along with the geographic realities 00:02:19.669 --> 00:02:22.490 of growing up in Cape Town, it completely shaped 00:02:22.490 --> 00:02:24.909 his musical development. So how did those geographic 00:02:24.909 --> 00:02:28.750 realities influence the actual the actual sound 00:02:28.750 --> 00:02:30.610 he was producing. Well, his early influences 00:02:30.610 --> 00:02:33.189 were incredibly diverse. His mother played piano 00:02:33.189 --> 00:02:35.270 in a church, so he was steeped in the structure 00:02:35.270 --> 00:02:37.909 and the style of hymnal music from a young age. 00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:40.669 Okay, church hymns. Right. But outside the church, 00:02:40.830 --> 00:02:43.169 in the really vibrant neighborhoods of Cape Town, 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:45.789 he was absorbing totally different local genres. 00:02:46.050 --> 00:02:48.610 The article specifically points to styles like 00:02:48.610 --> 00:02:51.009 Marabi and Omokonga, and he was hearing those 00:02:51.009 --> 00:02:53.710 right alongside imported American jazz. Okay, 00:02:53.770 --> 00:02:55.569 let's pause there for a second. For those of 00:02:55.569 --> 00:02:57.180 us who aren't familiar with mid - century South 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:00.120 African music, what exactly do those local genres 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:03.800 sound like? Okay, so Murabi started as a keyboard 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:07.240 style in the 1920s. It's heavily reliant on repeating 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:10.379 highly danceable chord progressions. Like party 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:12.599 music. Exactly. It was music meant for social 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.219 gatherings. Then you have Mbakanga, which came 00:03:15.219 --> 00:03:18.340 a bit later. That style blends those urban jazz 00:03:18.340 --> 00:03:21.360 structures with more rural, traditional Zulu 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:23.800 rhythms. Oh, I see. So Ibrahim was essentially 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:26.039 taking the harmonic structure of American jazz, 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.560 mixing it with the solemnity of those church 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.080 hymns, and adding the rhythmic drive. of these 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:33.379 local dance styles. He just merged them all together. 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:35.740 And he became really recognized in the jazz circles 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:38.360 of Cape Town and Johannesburg for that specific 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:41.580 fusion. The article mentions that in 1959, he 00:03:41.580 --> 00:03:43.340 helped form a group called the Jazz Epistles. 00:03:43.580 --> 00:03:46.240 A legendary group. Yeah, a really notable lineup. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.219 It featured musicians like Kipi Moketsu, Hugh 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:52.219 Masekela, Jonas Guangwa, Johnny Goertze, and 00:03:52.219 --> 00:03:54.979 Makai Inachoko. Okay, let's unpack this, because 00:03:54.979 --> 00:03:56.819 the political climate they were navigating in 00:03:56.819 --> 00:04:00.800 the late 1950s and early 1960s was... Well, it 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.919 was highly restrictive. Very much so. The Jazz 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.639 Epistles, as a collective, intentionally avoided 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.780 explicit political activity. Their stated focus 00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:12.379 was purely on playing jazz. They just wanted 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:15.139 to play. Right. However, the apartheid government 00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:17.439 maintained a stance of deep suspicion toward 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.779 jazz groups. They often viewed large mixed gatherings 00:04:20.779 --> 00:04:23.720 centered around this music as inherently subversive. 00:04:24.009 --> 00:04:26.889 And this general suspicion, it escalated into 00:04:26.889 --> 00:04:29.350 direct state repression following the Sharpeville 00:04:29.350 --> 00:04:32.050 massacre in 1960. Right. And for context for 00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:34.050 you listening, the Sharpeville massacre was a 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:36.470 tragic event where South African police fired 00:04:36.470 --> 00:04:38.959 on a crowd of people protesting past laws. The 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.420 historical record indicates 69 people were killed. 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:43.779 It was a turning point. Following that event, 00:04:43.980 --> 00:04:45.800 the government declared a state of emergency. 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:48.920 That included severe restrictions on public gatherings. 00:04:49.019 --> 00:04:51.600 Which means no gigs. Exactly. The pressure on 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.040 musicians became immense. The working environment 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:56.800 just evaporated. That led to the jazz epistles 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:00.519 disbanding. And by 1962, Ibrahim, like so many 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:03.300 other artists of his generation, went into exile. 00:05:03.740 --> 00:05:07.060 The sources track him and his wife, the vocalist 00:05:07.060 --> 00:05:10.639 Asama B. Benjamin. spending the 60s and 70s living 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:12.920 primarily in Europe and the United States. But 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:15.079 it wasn't disconnected from music. Not at all. 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:17.620 He lived in New York City, played with Duke Ellington's 00:05:17.620 --> 00:05:20.420 band, and even studied composition at the Julliard 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:22.600 School of Music. And if we connect this to the 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:25.439 bigger picture, that time in the United States 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.339 really altered his artistic trajectory. I mean, 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:30.060 working with someone like Duke Ellington, it 00:05:30.060 --> 00:05:32.519 exposed him to new ways of structuring a band. 00:05:32.660 --> 00:05:35.699 How so? Specifically, how to allow for individual 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:39.459 expression within a larger cohesive unit. Furthermore, 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:42.920 the 1960s and 70s in the U .S. saw the rise of 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:45.100 the black power movement. Right. A huge cultural 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:47.720 shift. Yeah. And the article notes this ideological 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:50.560 shift had a profound impact on Ibrahim and his 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:53.060 collaborators. They started to view music through 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:55.459 the lens of cultural nationalism. Meaning what 00:05:55.459 --> 00:05:58.339 exactly in a musical sense? It meant a conscious, 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:01.240 deliberate decision to reclaim their heritage 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:04.060 through their instruments. Instead of just playing 00:06:04.060 --> 00:06:07.259 street American jazz, Ibrahim began intentionally 00:06:07.259 --> 00:06:10.000 weaving more traditional African elements and 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:13.000 local South African rhythms back into his compositions. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.879 He was making a statement. Exactly, a statement 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:18.040 about the validity and the importance of his 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:20.920 own culture's sound. Which sets the perfect stage 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:24.639 for 1974. The Wikipedia article notes he made 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.060 brief trips back to South Africa during his exile. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:30.259 But the situation back home had changed dramatically, 00:06:30.579 --> 00:06:32.540 particularly regarding a neighborhood called 00:06:32.540 --> 00:06:36.639 District 6. Why was this specific area so pivotal 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:39.519 to the creation of Manenberg? District 6 was 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:42.319 historically a racially mixed, incredibly vibrant 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.660 neighborhood in Cape Town. It was known as a 00:06:44.660 --> 00:06:47.480 massive hub for arts, music and culture. A real 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:50.040 community center. Yes. However, under the Group 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:52.259 Areas Act, the government declared it a whites 00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:55.439 -only area. This initiated a brutal process of 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:58.379 forced removals. Tens of thousands of residents, 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:01.579 primarily those classified as colored, were forcibly 00:07:01.579 --> 00:07:04.620 evicted. Their homes were literally bulldozed, 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:07.199 and they were relocated to barren townships on 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:09.279 the outskirts of the city, an area known as the 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.920 Cape Flats. The destruction of that cultural 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:14.600 hub directly impacted Ibrahim upon his return. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:18.500 So during a visit in the early 1970s, he connected 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:21.259 with a producer named Rashid Valli at Valli's 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:24.079 record shop in Johannesburg. The shop was called 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.480 Kuhinor. Right. And they tried working together. 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:28.980 They did. They produced two initial albums together, 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:31.360 which were sort of folk -infused jazz records. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.000 But according to the data, those first two attempts 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.399 were not financially successful. The market just 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:38.620 didn't respond to them. Consequently, they decided 00:07:38.620 --> 00:07:40.879 to change their approach. So for their third 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:44.279 collaboration in 1974, an album titled Underground 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:47.439 in Africa, they pivoted their sound significantly. 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:50.319 They brought in new influences. They fused their 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.759 jazz foundation with rock music and South African 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:55.910 pop. And to execute this, Ibrahim recruited members 00:07:55.910 --> 00:07:58.949 of a local band called Aswiety. That brought 00:07:58.949 --> 00:08:01.470 in two prominent saxophonists, Robbie Jansen 00:08:01.470 --> 00:08:04.389 and Basil Coetzee. And the financial return on 00:08:04.389 --> 00:08:07.189 that album was much stronger, which led directly 00:08:07.189 --> 00:08:10.350 to the legendary June 1974 recording session 00:08:10.350 --> 00:08:14.470 back in Cape Town. Ibrahim tasked Quesi with 00:08:14.470 --> 00:08:16.970 assembling a backing band. That brought Jansen 00:08:16.970 --> 00:08:19.689 back into the studio alongside several new musicians. 00:08:20.050 --> 00:08:22.209 And Valli was producing. Yep. Valli produced 00:08:22.209 --> 00:08:24.829 the session on his newly established label, Ash 00:08:24.829 --> 00:08:27.329 Shams, which is an Arabic word meaning the sun, 00:08:27.529 --> 00:08:30.089 a name Ibrahim actually suggested. They spent 00:08:30.089 --> 00:08:32.509 days in that Cape Town studio working through 00:08:32.509 --> 00:08:34.830 pre -composed material. But the track that would 00:08:34.830 --> 00:08:37.230 define the entire session, it wasn't written 00:08:37.230 --> 00:08:39.129 down on sheet music. Here's where it gets really 00:08:39.129 --> 00:08:41.889 interesting. the recording of mannenberg happened 00:08:41.889 --> 00:08:45.570 in just one single take one take incredible the 00:08:45.570 --> 00:08:47.450 article describes ibrahim sitting down at the 00:08:47.450 --> 00:08:49.929 piano and simply starting to improvise a melody 00:08:49.929 --> 00:08:52.549 slowly he instructed the rest of the band to 00:08:52.549 --> 00:08:55.210 join in while he provided some basic melodic 00:08:55.210 --> 00:08:57.590 direction the resulting 14 -minute track was 00:08:57.590 --> 00:09:00.009 largely an exercise in collective improvisation 00:09:00.009 --> 00:09:02.870 and that spontaneous creation needed a title 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:06.669 they chose Manenberg, naming it after the specific 00:09:06.669 --> 00:09:08.830 township in the Cape Flats where many of the 00:09:08.830 --> 00:09:10.850 displaced residents from District 6 had been 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:13.190 relocated. So it was a direct reference to the 00:09:13.190 --> 00:09:16.809 forced removals. Absolutely. At the time, Basil 00:09:16.809 --> 00:09:19.629 Quincy actually lived there. Ibrahim was explicit 00:09:19.629 --> 00:09:22.350 about the symbolism. He stated that Manenberg 00:09:22.350 --> 00:09:25.250 signified the forced removal of people, but more 00:09:25.250 --> 00:09:27.309 specifically, it represented the displacement 00:09:27.309 --> 00:09:30.139 of their music and their culture. It essentially 00:09:30.139 --> 00:09:33.840 served as a geographic and cultural marker. Although 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:35.600 the article notes they almost went with a highly 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.480 specific alternative title, Mrs. Williams from 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:40.840 Manenberg. Oh, right, the housekeeper. Yeah, 00:09:40.919 --> 00:09:42.940 this was a reference to Gladys Williams. She 00:09:42.940 --> 00:09:44.919 was the former housekeeper of Morris Goldberg, 00:09:45.100 --> 00:09:48.059 one of the saxophonists on the session. Ibrahim 00:09:48.059 --> 00:09:50.059 actually took a photograph of her, which they 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:52.490 ended up using for the album cover. Using her 00:09:52.490 --> 00:09:54.690 image grounded the record in the reality of the 00:09:54.690 --> 00:09:56.909 people living in those townships. It wasn't abstract. 00:09:57.149 --> 00:09:59.509 And the album release itself, titled Manenberg 00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:02.309 is Where It's Happening, was totally unconventional 00:10:02.309 --> 00:10:04.470 for the era. I noticed that when looking at the 00:10:04.470 --> 00:10:07.429 discography, the physical vinyl release only 00:10:07.429 --> 00:10:10.440 featured two tracks in total. You had Manenberg 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:13.460 taking up one entire side at 13 minutes and 37 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:15.980 seconds. A massive track. And a track called 00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:18.559 The Pilgrim on the other side, clocking in at 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:21.220 12 minutes and 47 seconds. Releasing an album 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:23.600 with only two long -form instrumental tracks 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.320 was a massive commercial risk. I mean, radio 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.379 play alone would be difficult. But it was the 00:10:28.379 --> 00:10:30.919 specific sound of Manenberg that captured the 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.899 audience. It features this lilting melody over 00:10:33.899 --> 00:10:37.110 a very gentle, hypnotic groove. While listening 00:10:37.110 --> 00:10:39.009 to it, I noticed the piano itself doesn't sound 00:10:39.009 --> 00:10:41.629 like a standard studio grand piano. It has this 00:10:41.629 --> 00:10:45.070 almost metallic buzzing quality to it. Did they 00:10:45.070 --> 00:10:47.029 use a specific type of instrument for the recording? 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:50.019 They used a standard piano, but Ibrahim made 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:52.840 a physical modification to it. He actually attached 00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:55.440 metal thumbtacks to the hammers of the piano 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.860 inside the casing. Wait, he put thumbtacks inside 00:10:57.860 --> 00:11:00.460 the piano? Yes. So when you press a key, the 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:02.419 hammer strikes the string. With the thumbtack 00:11:02.419 --> 00:11:05.259 attached, it creates this sharp metallic timber. 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:07.379 That's fascinating. And this wasn't just for 00:11:07.379 --> 00:11:10.120 a cool audio effect. It was a deliberate cultural 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:14.299 callback. That specific metallic sound was instantly 00:11:14.299 --> 00:11:17.200 recognizable to the local audience. the sound 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:19.919 of old, heavily used pianos from the traditional 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:22.840 Marabi dance halls. That is a brilliant tactile 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:25.600 detail. He literally altered the mechanics of 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:27.559 the instrument to force it to sound like his 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:30.940 heritage. The Wikipedia article breaks down the 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:34.039 resulting track as a highly specific fusion of 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:37.019 local styles. It mentions a tiki dry beat and 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:40.379 a Langarm saxophone melody. How do those elements 00:11:40.379 --> 00:11:42.840 function within the song? Well, the fusion is 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:44.759 exactly what made it universally appealing across 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:47.240 different communities in South Africa. The foundation 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:49.659 is that Murabi groove driven by the thumbtack 00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:51.940 piano. On top of that, you have the rhythm section 00:11:51.940 --> 00:11:54.659 playing a beat reminiscent of Tiki Dry. And Tiki 00:11:54.659 --> 00:11:57.159 Dry is a dance style. Yeah, it was a fast -paced 00:11:57.159 --> 00:11:59.779 spinning dance style popular in the Cape. Then 00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:02.000 you layer on the saxophone playing a sweeping 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.320 melody associated with longarm. What does longarm 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:07.860 refer to? Longarm translates to longarm. It's 00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:11.259 a type of formal ballroom -style dance deeply 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:14.419 rooted in Cape culture. By incorporating the 00:12:14.419 --> 00:12:16.740 musical phrasing of that dance style and blending 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:18.899 it with the jazz aesthetic and the Marabi chords, 00:12:19.259 --> 00:12:21.779 Ibrahim created a piece of music that drew from 00:12:21.779 --> 00:12:23.980 the cultural traditions of both the colored and 00:12:23.980 --> 00:12:25.840 black communities. We should also definitely 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:29.179 highlight the saxophone performance itself. Basil 00:12:29.179 --> 00:12:31.860 Coetzee's tenor saxophone solo on the track became 00:12:31.860 --> 00:12:34.600 so culturally significant that he was forever 00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:37.460 known by the nickname Menenberg. It's important 00:12:37.460 --> 00:12:39.820 to note, though, that the song's heavy reliance 00:12:39.820 --> 00:12:42.200 on familiar cultural touchstones did lead to 00:12:42.200 --> 00:12:45.220 some controversy. Yes, a musician named Zaxon 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:47.559 Cosi pointed out that Manenberg shared significant 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:50.600 similarities with his own 1960 Mivokonga track 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:53.240 called Jackpot, and Cosi believed the melody 00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:55.600 was lifted. How did Ibrahim respond to that? 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.480 Ibrahim defended his composition, explaining 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:00.539 that the piece was meant to be an affirmation 00:13:00.539 --> 00:13:03.559 that their inherent shared culture was valid. 00:13:03.639 --> 00:13:08.419 It was communal. As jazz pianist Malalekwa later 00:13:08.419 --> 00:13:10.820 observed, regardless of its eventual political 00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:13.840 weight, Manenberg was fundamentally constructed 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:16.379 as a dance song. And the commercial response 00:13:16.379 --> 00:13:19.080 totally proved that people recognized it as such. 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:21.700 Before the official distribution even began, 00:13:22.340 --> 00:13:24.480 Rashid Valli tested the track by playing it on 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:26.700 loudspeakers outside his Johannesburg record 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:29.120 store. Oh, great marketing tactic. It worked 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:31.940 perfectly. The reaction was immediate. Pedestrians 00:13:31.940 --> 00:13:34.559 stopped in the street to listen. That resulted 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:37.519 in 5 ,000 copies sold in the first week alone. 00:13:37.820 --> 00:13:40.460 And Valli's small independent label just couldn't 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:42.899 handle the manufacturing demand. He had to secure 00:13:42.899 --> 00:13:45.279 a distribution deal with Gallo Records, which 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:47.159 was the largest record company in South Africa. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:49.419 Just to keep up with sales. Right. And to put 00:13:49.419 --> 00:13:51.940 the sales figures into historical context, an 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:54.360 album selling 20 ,000 copies at that time was 00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:57.600 considered a major success. Manenberg sold 43 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.879 ,000 copies in seven months. It became the most 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.720 popular jazz LP in the country's history. The 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.179 sales numbers are impressive, but the song's 00:14:06.179 --> 00:14:08.559 trajectory into political spaces is what makes 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.419 it so unique. The source material shares a really 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:13.960 notable anecdote regarding Nelson Mandela. This 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:17.240 is a powerful story. At the time, Mandela was 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:19.659 imprisoned on Robben Island. This was a maximum 00:14:19.659 --> 00:14:22.419 security political prison where authorities strictly 00:14:22.419 --> 00:14:26.240 prohibited access to music. Yet, a lawyer managed 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:28.700 to smuggle a copy of the Manenberg record onto 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:31.230 the island. and they somehow managed to play 00:14:31.230 --> 00:14:33.429 it over the prison's control room loudspeakers. 00:14:33.570 --> 00:14:36.649 Ibrahim recounted in an interview that upon hearing 00:14:36.649 --> 00:14:38.929 the music playing through the prison, Mandela's 00:14:38.929 --> 00:14:42.149 reaction was to state, liberation is near. Wow. 00:14:42.429 --> 00:14:45.169 It is remarkable to consider a piece of instrumental 00:14:45.169 --> 00:14:48.309 music bypassing prison censors simply because 00:14:48.309 --> 00:14:51.070 it lacks objectionable lyrics, yet still successfully 00:14:51.070 --> 00:14:53.090 communicating a message of inevitable freedom 00:14:53.090 --> 00:14:55.940 to a political prisoner. Censors look for explicit 00:14:55.940 --> 00:14:58.940 text to ban. They struggle to identify or articulate 00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:01.799 why a specific chord progression or a localized 00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:05.399 dance rhythm is dangerous. But as the 1970s progressed, 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.419 the historical context shifted and the song moved 00:15:08.419 --> 00:15:11.500 from a commercial hit to an overt political anthem. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:14.720 A major turning point was the Soweto uprising 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:19.000 in June 1976. The historical record details that 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:22.029 during the Soweto uprising, Thousands of students 00:15:22.029 --> 00:15:24.490 protested the government's mandate, introducing 00:15:24.490 --> 00:15:27.169 Afrikanis as a medium of instruction in local 00:15:27.169 --> 00:15:30.309 schools. The protests resulted in police firing 00:15:30.309 --> 00:15:32.809 on the crowds of students. A horrific escalation. 00:15:32.929 --> 00:15:35.350 Following these events, Abdullah Ibrahim and 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:37.769 Sathima Bey Benjamin publicly expressed their 00:15:37.769 --> 00:15:40.350 support for the African National Congress, the 00:15:40.350 --> 00:15:43.190 ANC, which was a banned political organization 00:15:43.190 --> 00:15:45.659 at the time. As resistance against the apartheid 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:47.860 government intensified throughout the 1980s, 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:50.440 Manenberg was widely adopted as the unofficial 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:53.480 national anthem of South Africa. The musicians 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:55.340 who played on the original recording, Robbie 00:15:55.340 --> 00:15:58.100 Jansen and Basil Coetzee, regularly performed 00:15:58.100 --> 00:16:00.879 the song at political protests and rallies. Taking 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:02.860 the music directly to the movement. Exactly. 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:05.279 Jansen would often follow the instrumental performance 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.000 with speeches emphasizing cultural pride and 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.000 political mobilization. Eventually, members of 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.419 the resistance movement even began repurposing 00:16:13.419 --> 00:16:15.919 the instrumental melody, writing and singing 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.279 their own anti -apartheid lyrics over the familiar 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:21.960 tune. The track's influence eventually expanded 00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:24.820 well beyond South Africa's borders, too. It saw 00:16:24.820 --> 00:16:27.440 international distribution. When it was released 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:30.200 in the United States, the title was changed to 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:33.679 Cape Town Fringe. It really made its mark globally. 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:36.600 It did. The composition was later included on 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:39.259 Darius Brubeck's album African Tributes. And 00:16:39.259 --> 00:16:41.100 for those interested in the broader intersection 00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:43.960 of music and political history, the song is also 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:46.759 featured heavily in the 2002 documentary film 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:49.539 Amandla, a revolution in four -part harmony. 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:52.730 Assessing the song's long -term legacy, the commentator 00:16:52.730 --> 00:16:55.210 Lindsey Johns provided a really thoughtful analysis 00:16:55.210 --> 00:16:57.730 in The Spectator on the 40th anniversary of the 00:16:57.730 --> 00:17:00.629 album's release. He described the track as threnotic, 00:17:00.789 --> 00:17:03.289 passionate, and ethereally beautiful. Threnotic, 00:17:03.370 --> 00:17:05.970 meaning it functions like a lament or a memorial 00:17:05.970 --> 00:17:09.109 for the dead. Precisely. It mourns the loss of 00:17:09.109 --> 00:17:12.109 District 6. But Johns makes a critical point 00:17:12.109 --> 00:17:14.980 regarding its dual nature. While the song is 00:17:14.980 --> 00:17:17.160 intrinsically tied to the specific geographic 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:19.579 and political realities of the Cape Flats in 00:17:19.579 --> 00:17:22.500 the 1970s, it is fundamentally driven by a life 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:25.059 affirming joy. Joy in the face of oppression. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.619 Yes. He argues that this underlying joy is what 00:17:28.619 --> 00:17:30.519 allows the music to resonate with marginalized 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:33.700 communities globally. It demonstrates how art 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:36.160 can be hyper specific to one historical moment 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:39.730 while maintaining universal accessibility. There 00:17:39.730 --> 00:17:42.430 is actually a tangible, physical monument to 00:17:42.430 --> 00:17:44.490 that specific piece of music standing in Cape 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:46.849 Town today. That's right. Located outside the 00:17:46.849 --> 00:17:48.690 building that housed the original recording studios, 00:17:49.049 --> 00:17:52.029 there is an abstract sculpture created by artists 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:55.029 Mark O'Donovan and Francois Venter. It consists 00:17:55.029 --> 00:17:57.839 of seven stainless steel pipes. Those pipes are 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:00.259 mechanically tuned to match the exact frequencies 00:18:00.259 --> 00:18:02.680 of the first seven notes of the Manenberg melody. 00:18:02.940 --> 00:18:05.099 Such a cool tribute. And the installation includes 00:18:05.099 --> 00:18:07.140 a simple instruction for pedestrians. It just 00:18:07.140 --> 00:18:09.519 says, run a stick along these pipes to hear Manenberg. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:12.299 It operates as an interactive piece of history 00:18:12.299 --> 00:18:14.539 embedded directly into the urban environment 00:18:14.539 --> 00:18:17.599 where it was created. I love that. So what does 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.329 this all mean? When we review the source material, 00:18:20.630 --> 00:18:23.529 we find an instrumental track recorded in a single 00:18:23.529 --> 00:18:26.750 take, utilizing collective improvisation, and 00:18:26.750 --> 00:18:29.430 played on a piano modified with metal thumbtacks. 00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:32.380 A truly unique recipe. Yet through its deliberate 00:18:32.380 --> 00:18:34.819 synthesis of local rhythms and jazz structures, 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:37.500 it documented the cultural displacement of a 00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:40.339 community, circumvented strict government censorship, 00:18:40.660 --> 00:18:44.140 and served as a rallying cry for a major political 00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:46.259 movement. This raises an important question, 00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:48.440 and it is a concept for you to consider long 00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:51.400 after this discussion ends. Manenberg functioned 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:54.359 as a massive, mobilizing political tool without 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:57.119 its creator ever recording a single word of protest. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:00.240 Not one word. If instrumental jazz composition 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.900 can threaten an entrenched, powerful political 00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:06.039 system simply by existing and affirming a community's 00:19:06.039 --> 00:19:08.500 culture, we must ask ourselves about the media 00:19:08.500 --> 00:19:11.480 we engage with daily. What underlying political 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:14.920 or cultural power exists within the purely instrumental 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:17.460 music, the rhythms, or the dances that you consume 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:19.500 on a regular basis without a second thought? 00:19:19.700 --> 00:19:21.740 That is an excellent framework for analyzing 00:19:21.740 --> 00:19:24.609 the art we encounter every single day. Thank 00:19:24.609 --> 00:19:26.250 you so much for joining us as we explored the 00:19:26.250 --> 00:19:28.789 history and impact of Manenberg. Keep analyzing 00:19:28.789 --> 00:19:31.069 the information around you, and we will catch 00:19:31.069 --> 00:19:32.150 you on the next deep dive.