In class this week we sing “Thinantsha,” an anti-Apartheid anthem. I sing the song alone in this video, but the version we recorded for All Around This World: Africa is multi-part Zulu harmony reminiscent of a church choir. I first heard “Thinantsha” — “We are the Youth!” on the Smithsonian Folkways CD “This Land is Mine: South African Freedom Songs” as a 1965 performance by South African exiles living in Tanzania, marking their defiance of the Afrikaner government and their determination to succeed in their struggle for equality. The anti-Apartheid forces certainly proved their persistence; Apartheid did not end until the early 1990s.
Tag Archives | Anti-Apartheid
Music as Revolution, Revolution as Music
The 2002 documentary Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony shows us that South Africa’s anti-Apartheid movement was a musical revolution.
Songs of lament, songs of struggle, songs of rage and songs of hope…South African music wasn’t just a byproduct of anti-Apartheid activism. Instead, songs generated activism, unified mass action and propelled the the people of South Africa to victory.