''DRUM'' is a South African online family magazine mainly aimed at black readers containing market news, entertainment and feature articles. It has two sister magazines: ''
Huisgenoot
''Huisgenoot'' (Afrikaans for ''House Companion'') is a weekly South African Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister magazine '' YOU'', ...
'' (aimed at White and Coloured
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
-speaking readers) and ''
YOU
In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers.
History
''You'' comes from the Proto- ...
'' (aimed at demographically diverse South African English-speaking readers of different ethnicities to inform, inspire and entertain them by offering its own brand of coverage on current events and interesting people).
In 2005 it was described as "the first black lifestyle magazine in Africa", but it is noted chiefly for its early 1950s and 1960s reportage of
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
life under
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 ...
. From July 2020 the magazine became an online magazine.
History
''Drum'' was started in 1951, as ''African Drum'' by former test cricketer and author
Bob Crisp
Robert James Crisp (28 May 1911 – 3 March 1994) was a South African cricketer who played in nine Test matches between 1935 and 1936. He appeared for Rhodesia, Western Province, Worcestershire and South Africa. Though his Test bowling avera ...
and
Jim Bailey an ex-
R.A.F.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
pilot, son of South African financier
Sir Abe Bailey.
Initially under Crisp's editorship, the magazine had a paternalistic, tribal representation of Africans, but within a short time Crisp was replaced and the emphasis moved to the vibrant urban black townships.
The paper in its early years had a series of outstanding editors:
*
Anthony Sampson
Anthony Terrell Seward Sampson (3 August 1926 – 18 December 2004) was a British writer and journalist. His most notable and successful book was '' Anatomy of Britain'', which was published in 1962 and was followed by five more "Anatomies", upd ...
, 1951–55
*
Sylvester Stein
Sylvester Stein (25 December 1920 – 28 December 2015) was a South African writer, publisher and athlete.
Biography
Stein was born in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Durban, son of a mathematics professor Philip Stein and Lily Rolnick ...
, 1955–58
*
Sir Tom Hopkinson
Sir Henry Thomas Hopkinson (19 April 1905 – 20 June 1990) was a British journalist, picture magazine editor, author, and teacher.
Early life
Born in Manchester, his father was a Church of England clergyman and a scholar, and his mother had ...
, 1958–?
Both Sampson and Stein wrote books about their times as editor, ''Drum: A Venture into the New Africa'' (1956, republished in 2005 as ''Drum: the making of a magazine'') and ''Who Killed Mr Drum?'' (1999) respectively.
''Drums heyday in the 1950s fell between the
Defiance Campaign
The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa in December 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conference. The demonstrations, ...
and the
tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
at
Sharpeville
Sharpeville (also spelled Sharpville) is a township situated between two large industrial cities, Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging, in southern Gauteng, South Africa. Sharpeville is one of the oldest of six townships in the Vaal Triangle. It was na ...
. This was the decade of potential Black emergence, the decade when the
Freedom Charter
The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats ...
was written and the decade when the
ANC
The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
alliance launched the Defiance Campaign. The aim was to promote an equal society. The Nationalist government responded with apartheid crackdowns and treason trials.
It was also the decade of the movement to the cities, of
Sophiatown
Sophiatown , also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid, It produced some of South Africa's most famous writers, musicians, politicians a ...
, of Black Jazz, the jazz opera ''
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'' with a Black cast, an adoption of
American culture
The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...
, of ''
shebeens'' (illegal drinking dens) and flamboyant American style gangsters (''tsotsis'') with chrome-laden American cars who spoke a slang called
Tsotsitaal
Tsotsitaal is a vernacular derived from a variety of mixed languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province (such as Soweto), but also in other agglomerations all over South Africa. ''Tsotsi'' is a Sesotho, Pedi or Tswana slang wor ...
.
It was a time of optimism and hope. ''DRUM'' was a "record of naivety, optimism, frustration, defiance, courage, dancing, drink, jazz, gangsters, exile and death".
''DRUM'' described the world of the urban Black; the culture, the colour, dreams, ambitions, hopes and struggles.
Lewis Nkosi
Lewis Nkosi (5 December 1936 – 5 September 2010) was a South African writer, who spent 30 years in exile as a consequence of restrictions placed on him and his writing by the Suppression of Communism Act and the Publications and Entertainme ...
described DRUM's young writers as "the new African
cut adrift from the tribal reserve – urbanised, eager, fast-talking and brash."
Peter Magubane
Peter Magubane (born 18 January 1932) is a South African photographer.
Early life
Peter Sexford Magubane was born in Vrededorp, now Pageview, a suburb of Johannesburg, and grew up in Sophiatown. He began taking photographs using a Kodak Browni ...
described the atmosphere in the newsroom. "''DRUM'' was a different home; it did not have apartheid. There was no discrimination in the offices of ''DRUM'' magazine. It was only when you left ''DRUM'' and entered the world outside of the main door that you knew you were in apartheid land. But while you were inside ''DRUM'' magazine, everyone there was a family."
''DRUM''′s cast of black journalists included
Henry ("Mr DRUM") Nxumalo,
Can Themba
Daniel Canodoise "Can" Themba (21 June 1924 – 8 September 1967) was a South African short-story writer.
Early life
Themba was born in Marabastad, near Pretoria, but wrote most of his work in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, South Africa. The town was ...
,
Todd Matshikiza
Todd Tozama Matshikiza (1921–1968) was a South African jazz pianist, composer and journalist.
Overview
Matshikiza came from a musical family. He graduated from St Peter's College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, and went on to obtain a d ...
,
Nat Nakasa
Nathaniel Ndazana Nakasa (12 May 1937 – 14 July 1965) better known as Nat Nakasa was a South African journalist and short story writer.
Early life
Nat Nakasa was born in outside Durban on 12 May 1937 to mother Alvina who was a teacher while h ...
, Lewis Nkosi and others such as
William "Bloke" Modisane,
Arthur Maimane
John Arthur Mogale Maimane (5 October 1932 – 28 June 2005), better known as Arthur Maimane, was a South African journalist and novelist.
Biography
Maimane was born in Pretoria, South Africa, growing up in the black township of Lady Selborne.D ...
, Stan Motjuwadi and
Casey Motsisi
Karabo Moses Motsisi (1932–1977), better known as Casey Motsisi or Casey "Kid" Motsisi, was a South African short story writer and journalist.
Biography
Casey Motsisi was born in Western Native Township (later Westbury) in Johannesburg in 193 ...
. Together, they were known as "the ''DRUM'' Boys". This group lived by the dictum "live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse".
Most of these journalists went on to publish works in their own right. The other journalists who worked there include
Bessie Head
Bessie Amelia Emery Head (6 July 1937 – 17 April 1986) was a South African writer who, though born in South Africa, is usually considered Botswana's most influential writer. She wrote novels, short fiction and autobiographical works that are ...
,
Lionel Ngakane
Lionel Ngakane (17 July 1928 – 26 November 2003) was a South African filmmaker and actor, who lived in exile in the United Kingdom from the 1950s until 1994, when he returned to South Africa after the end of apartheid. His 1965 film ''Jemima a ...
,
Richard Rive
Richard Moore Rive (1 March 1931 – 4 June 1989) was a South African writer and academic, who was from Cape Town.
Biography
Rive was born on 1 March 1931 in Caledon Street in the working-class Coloured residential area District Six of Cape To ...
and
Jenny Joseph.
It was not only the writers–the pictures were also important. The main photographer and artistic director was
Jürgen Schadeberg, who arrived in South Africa in 1950 after leaving a war-ravaged
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. He became one of the rare European photographers to photograph the daily lives of Black people. He trained a generation of rising black photographers, including
Ernest Cole,
Bob Gosani
Bob Gosani (1934–1972) was a South African photographer.
Career
Gosani started off at '' Drum'' magazine as a messenger but soon moved to the photographic department where he became Jürgen Schadeberg's darkroom assistant. He later became one ...
and later
Peter Magubane
Peter Magubane (born 18 January 1932) is a South African photographer.
Early life
Peter Sexford Magubane was born in Vrededorp, now Pageview, a suburb of Johannesburg, and grew up in Sophiatown. He began taking photographs using a Kodak Browni ...
. Magubane joined ''DRUM'' because "they were dealing with social issues that affected black people in South Africa. I wanted to be part of that magazine".
Alf Khumalo was another well-known photographer on the staff.
Henry Nxumalo
Henry Nxumalo (1917 – 31 December 1957), also known as Henry "Mr Drum" Nxumalo, was a pioneering South African investigative journalist under apartheid.
Early life
He was born in 1917 in Margate, Natal, South Africa, and attended the Fasca ...
was the first journalist and specialised in investigative reporting. For example, he got a job on a potato farm where he exposed the exploitative conditions (almost slave-like) under which the Black labourers worked. In 1957, Nxumalo was murdered while investigating an abortion racket. His story was the basis for the 2004 film ''
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
''.
Todd Matshikiza wrote witty and informed jazz articles about the burgeoning township jazz scene.
Dolly (the agony aunt) helped many a confused, young lover to get their lives back on course. The "Dear Dolly" letters were written by
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 f ...
, a popular actress, pin-up and singer. In reality, they were ghosted by other ''DRUM'' writers, notably
Casey Motsisi
Karabo Moses Motsisi (1932–1977), better known as Casey Motsisi or Casey "Kid" Motsisi, was a South African short story writer and journalist.
Biography
Casey Motsisi was born in Western Native Township (later Westbury) in Johannesburg in 193 ...
.
Arthur Maimane, under the pseudonym Arthur Mogale, wrote a regular series entitled "The Chief" where he described gangster incidents he had heard about in the shebeens.
Don Mattera
Donato Francisco Mattera (29 December 1935 – 18 July 2022), better known as Don Mattera, was a South African poet and author.
Overview
Born in 1935 in Western Native Township (now Westbury), Johannesburg, Union of South Africa, Mattera g ...
, a leading Sophiatown gangster, took exception to this. "The gangsters were pissed off with him and there was a word out that we should wipe this guy off."
The office telephonist,
David Sibeko, became leader of the
Pan-African Congress
The Pan-African Congress was a series of eight meetings, held in 1919 in Paris (1st Pan-African Congress), 1921 in London, Brussels and Paris (2nd Pan-African Congress), 1923 in London (3rd Pan-African Congress), 1927 in New York City (4th Pan-Afr ...
.
''DRUM'' also encouraged fiction.
Es'kia Mphahlele
Es'kia Mphahlele (17 December 1919 – 27 October 2008) was a South African writer, educationist, artist and activist celebrated as the Father of African Humanism and one of the founding figures of modern African literature.
He was given the ...
(the fiction editor from 1955 to 1957) encouraged and guided this. During that time over 90 short stories were published by such authors as Todd Matshikiza, Bloke Modisane, Henry Nxumalo, Casey Motsisi, Arthur Maimane (alias Mogale), Lewis Nkosi, Nat Nakasa, Can Themba and others. These stories described the people of the street; jazz musicians, gangsters, shebeen queens and con men and were written in a uniquely Sophiatown-influenced blend of English and
Tsotsitaal
Tsotsitaal is a vernacular derived from a variety of mixed languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province (such as Soweto), but also in other agglomerations all over South Africa. ''Tsotsi'' is a Sesotho, Pedi or Tswana slang wor ...
. This creative period has been called the ''
Sophiatown renaissance''.
The backbone of the magazine was crime, investigative reporting, sex (especially if across the colour line) and sport. This was fleshed out by imaginative photography.
The formula worked and made for compulsive reading. Each issue of ''DRUM'' was read by up to 9 people, passed from hand to hand on the streets, in the clubs or on the trains. It became a symbol of Black urban life. 240,000 copies were distributed each month across Africa.
This was more than any other African magazine.
''DRUM'' was distributed in 8 different countries:
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Trans ...
,
Central African Federation
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
,
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
,
Tanganyika
Tanganyika may refer to:
Places
* Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state
* Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania
* Tanzania Main ...
,
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
and
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
.
Sadly, because of the immovable force of apartheid the promise and dreams it described turned to frustration and despair. In 1955
Sophiatown, Gauteng, Sophiatown was bulldozed and the writers died or went overseas, and "...The creative output of the Sophiatown Renaissance came to an end as the bulldozers rolled in...."
Later ownership
By May 1965 ''DRUM'' had faded and became simply a fortnightly supplement to the ''Golden City Post'',
[Les Switzer (ed.), ''South Africa's Alternative Press: voices of protest and resistance, 1880s-1960s'', Cambridge University Press, 1997.] another Bailey property. It was revived in 1968. In 1984
Naspers
Naspers Limited is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its ...
acquired DRUM Publications, the publisher of
City Press, ''DRUM'' and ''True Love & Family''.
The parent company of the magazine is
Media24
Media24 is the print media division of the South African media company Naspers. It controls Naspers' newspaper and magazine Southern African publishing and printing activities, including Internet publishing of the 24.com collection of web portal ...
which announced in July 2020 that the print version of the magazine ceased publication.
[
]
See also
* Darren Newbury, ''Defiant Images: Photography and Apartheid South Africa'', University of South Africa (UNISA) Press, 2009, (see Chapter 2, "A fine thing": The African DRUM, and Chapter 3, "Johannesburg lunch-hour": photographic humanism and the social vision of DRUM)
* Michael Chapman (ed.), ''The DRUM Decade: stories from the 1950s'', University of Natal Press, 2001,
* Dorothy C. Woodson, ''DRUM: an index to Africa's leading magazine, 1951–1965'', University of Wisconsin-Madison, African Studies Programme, 1988,
* Heyns, Jacky, ''The Beat of DRUM: the story of a magazine that documented the rise of Africa as told by DRUM's publisher, editors, contributors, and photographers'', Ravan Press, 1982–1984. (the full set), (vol. 1)
* ''The Beat of DRUM. Vol. 4, The Bedside Book: Africa's leading magazine'', editor in chief J. R. A. Bailey, editor H. Lunn, James R. A. Bailey, 1984,
* ''DRUM: South Africa's Black picture magazine'', Creative Camera, 1984
* Anthony Sampson, ''DRUM: the making of a magazine'', Jonathan Ball Publishers,
* Anthony Sampson, ''DRUM'', Hodder & Stoughton, 1983,
* Mike Nicol, ''Good-looking Corpse: World of DRUM – Jazz and Gangsters, Hope and Defiance in the Townships of South Africa'', Secker & Warburg, 1991,
* Sylvester Stein (with a foreword by Anthony Sampson), ''Who Killed Mr DRUM?'', Mayibuye Books, 1999,
1952 ''Time'' magazine article, "South African Drumbeats"
''Drum'' (2004), a film about ''Drum'' magazine and one of its journalists, Henry Nxumalo
* ''Come Back, Africa'', a film shot in Sophiatown in the 1950s with writing credits by Lionel Rogosin, Bloke Modisane and Lewis Nkosi.
* ''Have You Seen Drum Recently?'', a film by Jürgen Schadeberg]using photographs drawn from the DRUM archives.
* Lionel Rogosin & Peter Davis, ''Come Back, Africa''. STE Publishers, (The book of the film).
References
External links
*
''Drum'' 1976–1980 – An exhibition from the pages of ''Drum'' magazine
{{Authority control
1951 establishments in South Africa
2020 disestablishments in South Africa
Anti-Apartheid organisations
Defunct magazines published in South Africa
Lifestyle magazines
Magazines established in 1951
Magazines disestablished in 2020
Mass media in Johannesburg
Newspaper supplements
Online magazines with defunct print editions