'Radio Apartheid': Investigating a History of Compliance and Resistance in Popular Afrikaans Music, 1956-1979

The ideologues responsible for the construction of hegemonic Afrikaner identity during the era that saw the rise (and fall) of apartheid, did so by painstakingly weaving Afrikaner nationalist ideology into the fabric of Afrikaner society. This had a crucial impact on Afrikaner culture, including the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:South African Historical Journal 2014-04, Vol.66 (2), p.349-370
Main Author: Van Der Merwe, Schalk D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Afrikaaners
Afrikaans
Afrikaner peoples
Apartheid
Arts-Performing Arts-Music
Censorship
Compliance
History-Africa-Southern Africa
Identity
Identity politics
kwela
Musicology
Nationalism
Popular music
Resistance
Rock music
SABC
South African history
South African music
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The ideologues responsible for the construction of hegemonic Afrikaner identity during the era that saw the rise (and fall) of apartheid, did so by painstakingly weaving Afrikaner nationalist ideology into the fabric of Afrikaner society. This had a crucial impact on Afrikaner culture, including the sphere of popular Afrikaans music. The majority of Afrikaans artists did not resist these efforts by apartheid's cultural entrepreneurs, but not all. Some preferred local indigenous music styles of the 'racial other' over European trends at a time of increasing racial segregation and complex identity politics. Furthermore, during this time commercial Afrikaans music lost its legitimacy among Afrikaner youths, who preferred to listen to English rock and pop hits from abroad. This preference did not, however, lead to noteworthy anti-establishment sentiments until 1979 when a group of Afrikaans music artists started to question the non-confrontational, compliant mainstream Afrikaans pop. This resonated with a wider circle of critical Afrikaner voices and led to new genres in Afrikaans music. This paper explores the dominant narratives present in the construction of Afrikaner identities by looking at examples of compliance and resistance in popular, or commercial, Afrikaans music from 1956 to 1979.
ISSN:0258-2473
1726-1686
DOI:10.1080/02582473.2014.891044