Oppressors hate jazz. Whether in the U.S. or abroad, jazz has always made the right
enemies. The Soviets and Castro tried to stomp it out. Hitler was no fan, and you don’t
hear much about a Chinese jazz scene. Jazz requires, promotes, and symbolizes a kind
of democracy, an exchange of ideas that dictators can’t tolerate.
So, it’s no surprise that the burgeoning jazz scene in 1950s and ’60s South Africa was
crippled by the rise of apartheid. The Johannesburg jazz scene — mixing races and
ideas in a vital musical pot — was literally outlawed. And, of course, many musicians
fled the country for Europe and America.
In 1962, while the young composer and pianist Dollar Brand traveled through Europe,
his wife convinced Duke Ellington to catch his show, and Duke immediately ushered
Brand into a Paris recording studio launching his more than 50-year career.
In 1968, Dollar Brand, renamed Abdullah Ibrahim after a religious conversion, returned
to Africa, and recorded “Mannenberg – ‘Is Where It’s Happening’” in 1974, which soon
became an unofficial national anthem for black South Africans.
“Mannenberg” was created while the apartheid government of South Africa was forcibly
removing Coloured families from their homes as part of the destruction of District Six,
including the township of Mannenberg, considered symbolic with respect to apartheid in
the same way as Soweto. The destruction of a neighborhood viewed as a symbol of
resilience and creativity in the face of racial oppression informed Ibrahim’s music. Asked
how the title came about, Ibrahim said: “For us Mannenberg was just symbolic of the
removal out of District Six, which is actually the removal of everybody from everywhere
in the world, and Mannenberg specifically because … it signifies, it’s our music, and it’s
our culture.”
Described as the “most iconic of all South African jazz tunes”, the song sold more
copies in two years than any previous jazz LP recorded in the country, and it cemented
Ibrahim's status as South Africa's most popular jazz musician. Its release also has been
identified as the moment Cape jazz became well-known. “Mannenberg” is reported to
have inspired Nelson Mandela with hope during his imprisonment, and that on hearing
the song Mandela said: “Liberation is near.”
Music: From 1974, Abdullah Ibrahim with “Mannenberg.”
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