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Dorkay House
Dorkay House is situated on Portion 168 of Farm Turnfontein at 5-7 Eloff Street, Johannesburg, South Africa. It was constructed in 1952 and was designed by architect Colman Segal (1923-1988). It takes its name from the original owner, Dora Kotzen. Design Originally built as factory for "cut-make-and-trim" men’s clothing, Dorkay House was planned to have large open plan workrooms. A three-storey building, it was constructed in reinforced concrete and has steel windows. Social history After closure of the clothing business, Father Trevor Huddleston wanted to use the building to support local Black musicians: Through funds raised at a farewell concert held in his honour in 1954 at the Bantu Men’s Social Club next door, Union Artists were able to acquire a lease. It soon became home to the African Music & Drama Association (1957), and the building rocked to Jazz and Soul – students having lessons, aspirant musicians arriving for a jam session as well as the popular performance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demographia, the Johannesburg–Pretoria urban area (combined because of strong transport links that make commuting feasible) is the 26th-largest in the world in terms of population, with 14,167,000 inhabitants. It is the provincial capital and largest city of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm. Due to the extremely large gold de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolly Rathebe
Dolly Rathebe ( OIS) (2 April 1928 – 16 September 2004) was a South African musician and actress who performed with the Elite Swingsters jazz band, and in Alf Herbert's ''African Jazz and Variety Show''. Rathebe died on 16 September 2004 from a stroke. Music career Rathebe was born in Randfontein, South Africa but grew up in Sophiatown, which she describes as having been "a wonderful place". She was discovered around 1948 after singing at a picnic in Johannesburg. A talent scout from Gallo approached her and it was not long before she became a star. Rathebe rose to fame in 1949, aged 21, when she appeared as a nightclub singer in the British-produced movie '' Jim Comes To Jo'burg'' - the first film to portray urban Africans in a positive light. During a photo-shoot for ''Drum'' magazine at a mine dump, Rathebe and the white photographer, Jürgen Schadeberg, were arrested under the Immorality Act, which forbade interracial relationships. When Alf Herbert's African Jazz a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winston Ntshona
Winston Ntshona (6 October 1941 – 2 August 2018) was a South African playwright and actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1975. Biography Born in Port Elizabeth, Zola Winston Ntshona worked alongside fellow South African Athol Fugard on several occasions, most notably in the 1980 film version of Fugard's play '' Marigolds in August'', and played a minor role in Richard Attenborough's acclaimed film ''Gandhi'' (1982) and a major role in the film ''A Dry White Season'' (1989). Career Ntshona attended Newell High School in Port Elizabeth, where he met long time collaborator and South African acting legend John Kani. Between 1963 and 1972 Ntshona worked as a laboratory assistant in a timber factory. In 1967 he joined the Serpent Players drama group alongside John Kani and Athol Fugard. Black members of the drama group all had day time jobs. Rehearsals and workshops would take place in the evenings or during weekends. Reputation of their work grew over time, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gibson Kente
Gibson Mthuthuzeli Kente (23 July 1932 Duncan Village, Eastern Cape – 7 November 2004, Soweto, Johannesburg) was a South African playwright, composer, director and producer based in Soweto. He was known as the ''Father of Black Theatre'' in South Africa, and was one of the first writers to deal with life in the South African black townships. He produced 23 plays and television dramas between 1963 and 1992. He is also responsible for producing some of South Africa's leading musicians. Many prominent artists, including Brenda Fassie, owe their first opportunities on stage to him. Biography Gibson Kente was raised in Stutterheim by his mother. He was educated at Bethel Training College Seventh-Day Adventist college in Butterworth until he moved to Lovedale Training College to complete his matric. In 1956 Kente moved to Johannesburg to study social work at the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work. He never completed his studies, instead he joined a group known as Union of S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Jazz Pioneers
The African Jazz Pioneers is a South African group that espouses the music of the 1950s, fusing big band jazz with township marabi sounds. Band leader and saxophonist Bra Ntemi Piliso, who wrote most of the Pioneers' songs, opened the field of composition to the band's younger musicians. History The background of the African Jazz Pioneers stretches back to the 1950s when jazz was in fashion and big bands enjoyed prominence in South Africa. The band was founded in the 1980s and played 1950s and 1960s South African jazz in an attempt to recreate the fun of that era's live performances. During the 1950s and 60s, Dorkay House provided a haven for South African music legends, including artists like Dollar Brand, Kippie Moeketsi, Miriam Makeba, Ntemi Edmund Piliso, Dudu Pukwana, Hugh Masekela, Wilson Silgee, Zacks Nkosi, and Jonas Gwangwa. These musicians were at the cutting edge of South Africa's music scene, blending American big band sound with traditional Majuba tempos and Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sipho Mabuse
Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse (born in Johannesburg, 2 November 1951) is a South African singer. Sipho grew up in Soweto. His mother was Zulu and his father was Tswana. Sipho and his band used to be managed by Solly Nkuta, After dropping out of school in the 1960s, Mabuse got his start in the Afro-soul group the Beaters in the mid-1970s. After a successful tour of Zimbabwe they changed the group's name to Harari, an afrosoul band led by Mabuse. When they returned to their homeland in South Africa they began to draw almost exclusively on American-style funk, soul, and pop music, sung in Zulu and Sotho as well as English. He has also recorded and produced for, amongst others, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Ray Phiri and Sibongile Khumalo. Mabuse is responsible for " Burn Out" in the early 1980s which sold over 500,000 copies, and the giant (Disco Shangaan) hit of the late 1980s, "Jive Soweto". His daughter is the singer Mpho Skeef. Mabuse returned to school at the age of 60, comple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dudu Pukwana
Mthutuzeli Dudu Pukwana (18 July 1938 – 30 June 1990) was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist (although not known for his piano playing). Early years in South Africa Dudu Pukwana was born in Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He grew up studying piano in his family, but in 1956 he switched to alto saxophone after meeting tenor saxophone player Nikele Moyake."Mtutuzeli Dudu Pukwana" South African History online. In 1962, Pukwana won first prize at the Jazz Festival with Moyake's Jazz Giants (1962 Gallo/Teal). In his early days he also played with |
Caiphus Semenya
Caiphus Semenya (born 19 August 1939) is a South African composer and musician. He was born in Alexandra, Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa. He left South Africa for Los Angeles, California, United States, in the 1960s, together with his wife, singer Letta Mbulu. Among the artists with whom he worked are Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Hotep Galeta, Miriam Makeba, Lou Rawls, Nina Simone and Cannonball Adderley. Semenya also arranged the Swahili chant in the intro to Michael Jackson's " Liberian Girl" from the 1987 '' Bad'' album. Awards * 2015: South African Afro Music Awards * 2015: ACT Lifetime Achievement Award for Music * 1986: Academy Award for Best Original Score for the 1985 film ''The Color Purple''; shared the nomination with nine other composers. Discography *''The Very Best of Caiphus Semenya'' (Columbia, 1996) *''Woman Got a Right to Be'' (1996) *''Streams Today... Rivers Tomorrow'' (Munjale, 1984) *''Listen to the Wind'' (CBS, 1982) With Quincy Jones * ''Roots A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdullah Ibrahim
Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934 and formerly known as Dollar Brand) is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to the gospel of the AME Church and Ragas, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. Ibrahim is considered the leading figure in the subgenre of Cape jazz. Within jazz, his music particularly reflects the influence of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. He is known especially for "Mannenberg", a jazz piece that became a notable anti-apartheid anthem. During the apartheid era in the 1960s Ibrahim moved to New York City and, apart from a brief return to South Africa in the 1970s, remained in exile until the early '90s. Over the decades he has toured the world extensively, appearing at major venues either as a solo artist or playing with other renowned musicians, including Max Roach, Carlos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Letta Mbulu
Letta Mbulu (born 23 August 1942) is a South African jazz singer who has been active since the 1960s. Biography Born and raised in Soweto, South Africa, she has been active as a singer since the 1960s. While still a teenager she toured with the musical ''King Kong''Douglas Payne"Letta Mbulu" Douglaspayne.com — but left for the United States in 1964 due to Apartheid. In New York City, she connected with other South African exiles, including Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Jonas Gwangwa, and went on to work with Cannonball Adderley, David Axelrod and Harry Belafonte. On screen, her singing can also be heard in ''Roots'', ''The Color Purple'' (1985), and the 1973 film ''A Warm December'',Craig HarrisArtist Biography AllMusic and she was a guest on a Season 6 episode of ''Soul Train''. Mbulu also provided the Swahili chant in Michael Jackson's single, " Liberian Girl". Producer Quincy Jones has said of her: "Mbulu is the roots lady, projecting a sophistication and warmth whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thandi Klaasen
Thandi Klaasen (born Thandiwe Nelly Mpambani, 27 September 1931 – 15 January 2017) was a jazz musician from Sophiatown, Gauteng. She was the mother of singer Lorraine Klaasen. Biography Thandiwe Nelly Mpambani grew up in Sophiatown, the daughter of a shoemaker and a domestic worker.Thandi Klaasen profile When she was a teenager, she was attacked with an acid bomb and her face was permanently scarred.Kagiso Msimango, "Warrior Goddess: Thandi Klaasen" The Goddess Academy, 20 May 2006. Her career as a singer and dancer began in the mid-1950s. Klaasen performed with |
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on ''baasskap'' (boss-hood or boss-ship), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day. Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into ''petty apartheid'', which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and ''grand apartheid'', which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
