South Africa has undergone enormous change in the last ten years; it's a young democracy with an overwhelmingly young population, half under age twenty-one. Now, the generation which came of age after apartheid is shaping the future of the nation.
Their music is kwaito, a homegrown electronic "mix masala" of South African and Western pop music genres. From WBUR's Inside Out Documentaries, correspondent Sean Cole reports on how kwaito began in the long-suffering townships of Johannesburg and became the soundtrack for a generation.
Unlike the imported hip-hop and house tracks thumping in the city's nightclubs, kwaito is delivered in the vernacular: an admixture of English, Zulu and other native languages as well as Africaans and a township dialect called ?totsi-taal? (?thug language.?) The lyrics range from party fare to head-on confrontations with problems South Africa is facing in the wake of desegregation: AIDS, crime, poverty, racial conflicts and xenophobia.
Like hip-hop, kwaito climbed from the underground into the mainstream, affording young blacks opportunities the likes of which their parents could only dream. Today, kwaito stars influence the culture, language and economy of the nation in ways that were simply unthinkable during a century of government-imposed racial segregation. Kwaito has become a full-fledged youth culture with influence on television, fashion, magazines, literature and politics. Sean Cole takes us to places the average white tourist will never see, and introduces us to the musicians, promoters, authors, cultural commentators, fashionistas and youths at the nexus of this vital component of life in South Africa today.
"South Africa's Kwaito Generation: Inside Out" is accompanied by a series of three short pieces suitable as drop-ins.
PRSS satellite uplink 7/28/05, 8/2/05
"South Africa's Kwaito Generation: Inside Out" may be considered "evergreen."
For more information about this and other Inside Out Documentaries, please contact Namita Raina, National Program Administrator, WBUR Boston. (617) 353-8160
nraina@bu.edu
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Piece Description
South Africa has undergone enormous change in the last ten years; it's a young democracy with an overwhelmingly young population, half under age twenty-one. Now, the generation which came of age after apartheid is shaping the future of the nation. Their music is kwaito, a homegrown electronic "mix masala" of South African and Western pop music genres. From WBUR's Inside Out Documentaries, correspondent Sean Cole reports on how kwaito began in the long-suffering townships of Johannesburg and became the soundtrack for a generation. Unlike the imported hip-hop and house tracks thumping in the city's nightclubs, kwaito is delivered in the vernacular: an admixture of English, Zulu and other native languages as well as Africaans and a township dialect called ?totsi-taal? (?thug language.?) The lyrics range from party fare to head-on confrontations with problems South Africa is facing in the wake of desegregation: AIDS, crime, poverty, racial conflicts and xenophobia. Like hip-hop, kwaito climbed from the underground into the mainstream, affording young blacks opportunities the likes of which their parents could only dream. Today, kwaito stars influence the culture, language and economy of the nation in ways that were simply unthinkable during a century of government-imposed racial segregation. Kwaito has become a full-fledged youth culture with influence on television, fashion, magazines, literature and politics. Sean Cole takes us to places the average white tourist will never see, and introduces us to the musicians, promoters, authors, cultural commentators, fashionistas and youths at the nexus of this vital component of life in South Africa today. "South Africa's Kwaito Generation: Inside Out" is accompanied by a series of three short pieces suitable as drop-ins. PRSS satellite uplink 7/28/05, 8/2/05 "South Africa's Kwaito Generation: Inside Out" may be considered "evergreen." For more information about this and other Inside Out Documentaries, please contact Namita Raina, National Program Administrator, WBUR Boston. (617) 353-8160 nraina@bu.edu
Broadcast History
PRSS satellite uplink July 2005
Transcript
KWAITO SHORT SERIES ? SUGGESTED INTROS
PART 1 INTRO ? AT THE END OF APARTHEID, IN THE EARLY 19-90?S, A NEW GENRE OF MUSIC TOOK HOLD IN SOUTH AFRICA. IT?S CALLED KWAITO [?KWY-toh?]... K-W-A-I-T-O. IT WAS INVENTED BY THE GENERATION OF BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS WHO CAME OF AGE AFTER THE RACIAL SEGREGATION LAWS WERE REVERSED. SINCE THEN, THE MUSIC AND THE GENERATION HAVE BECOME THE SAME IN MANY WAYS. BOTH ARE DEALING WITH A WHOLE HOST OF STRUGGLES, SUCH AS AIDS, CRIME AND XENOPHOBIA. BOTH ARE A MIXTURE OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL INFLUENCES. SEAN COLE, OF W-B-U-R?S INSIDE OUT DOCUMENTARIES, RECENTLY WENT TO SOUTH AFRICA TO LEARN MORE ABOUT KWAITO. HE BEGINS HIS REPORT AT AN ALL-NIGHT OUTDOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL SOUTH OF JOHANNESBURG...CHASING A MAN IN A BALACLAVA MASK.
IC: ?A SHIRTLESS MAN...?
OC: ?...I?M SEAN COLE.? [10:31 WITH MUX FILL TO END]
TAG: OUR SERIES ON KWAITO CONTINUES [date/time]....
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
RUNDOWN SOUTH AFRICA?S KWAITO GENERATION: INSIDE OUT PGM TIME 58:59 IN STEREO?sum to mono OK?do not pull left channel only
[1] dump tone [:50] 990Hz @ -14dBFS [0 VU]
silence [:10]
[2] AIR BILLBOARD [:59]
IC: MUX; ?WITH THE FALL OF APARTHEID??
OC: ?FIRST THIS NEWS.?
dump mux fill [4:59]
[3] AIR A SEG. [16:59]
IC: MUX; ?I?M SEAN COLE??
OC: ?...I?M SEAN COLE.?
dump mux fill [:59]
[4] AIR B SEG. [19:59]
IC: MUX, ?I?M SEAN COLE??
OC: ?WE?LL BE RIGHT BACK.?
dump mux fill [:59]
[5] AIR C SEG. / CREDITS [13:59]
IC: MUX, ?I?M SEAN COLE??
OC: ?...[whistle] CHISSA!!!?
?end of program?promos and shorts follow?
[6] dump silence [:59]
[7] PROMO #1 [:29]
silence [:04]
[8] PROMO #2 [:29]
silence [:04]
[9] SHORT #1 [11:56]
IC: ?A SHIRTLESS MAN...?
OC: ?...I?M SEAN COLE.? [10:31 WITH MUX FILL TO END]
silence [:04]
[10] SHORT #2 [12:01]
IC: ?HIS NAME?S MAPAPUTSI...?
OC: ?...ISN?T GONNA BLOCK MY WAYS.? [10:18 WITH MUX FILL TO END]
silence [:04]
*[11] SHORT #3 [11:36]
IC: ?HIS NAME IS BONGINKOSI...?
OC: ?...THERE?S HUMAN BEINGS HERE.? [10:55 + :40 MUX--KEEP IN CLEAR TO END FADE.]
*NOT INCLUDED IN PRSS SAT FEED OR CD?S; AVAILABLE ON PRX OR FTP SITE.
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Posted on August 23, 2005 at 12:31 AM | Permalink
Review of South Africa's Kwaito Generation: Inside Out
Sean Cole and Inside Out deliver a richly woven hour on South Africa's homegrown answer to hip-hop: Kwaito. Cole takes you thorough the streets, homes and clubs where this socially conscious music and its artists live and work.
You get a real sense of the music of Kwaito and its important place in South African youth culture. The voices are many, the accents sometimes thick, but the infectious beat of Kwaito, and its role as a real popular voice of young black South Africans is undeniably listenable.
Cole's occasional perspectives from "the dry young white american on the scene " POV in certain scenes are inevitable, but only a passing distraction. When he let's the artists speak for themselves, and delivers his well researched story framework, the program shines, and fortunately for the listener, it shines brightly.
Treat your ears to Inside Out's portriat of the Kwaito Generation of South Africa, and you'll be entertained as well as moved to realize that in a time where the music industry often determines what we listen to and who we ought to be enamored of, a homegrown sound can become a social force with which to be reckoned .
This hour would be great on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.