A glossy pictorial tribute to the women who have made South African music great: More than fifty black women singers who refused to have their talents destroyed and their voices muted. During the years of struggle these singers, ranging in style from mbaqanga and jazz to pop and classical, sustained the spirits of their people. Women like Dolly Rathebe, Miriam Makeba, Letta Mbulu, Thandie Klaasen, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Brenda Fassie have triumphed over obstacles to inspire a nation.
"An impressive and fragrant bouquet to our musical heritage. A brava! brava! to our indispensable divas." Johan van Rooyen, Vuka
"The literary equivalent of a well-prepared plate of pap and vleis - tasty, unadorned and fulfilling. And I can’t have enough of it." Fred Khumalo, Sunday Times
This glossy black and white coffee-table book brings you the best of our great African songstresses.
CONTENT:
- A contextualising Introduction by musicologist Lara Allen gives a historical overview of black South African women singers the last hundred years.
- Informal interviews with 48 individual singers and two groups: two pages are dedicated to each singer/group - a verbal portrait by ZB Molefe, with on the facing page a recent b/w portrait by Mike Mzileni. A second, smaller photograph of the singer, performing, appears on the interview page. The women appear in alphabetical order, using their singer's names, and not in chronological order.
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
- Paper: heavy, 150 g glossy art paper
- Cover: laminated softcover with deep (20 cm) folded-in flaps, printed like end-papers
- Printing process: printed in two colours throughout, the first being silver, to give added lustre and dimension to the black and white photographs.
AUTHORS:
- ZB MOLEFE, a great music fundi and jazz lover, is Marketing Manager of City Press. While he was Deputy Editor, from 1989 to 1996, he regularly contributed to the arts pages. He knows or has known most of the singers featured in the book.
- MIKE MZILENI, chief photographer at City Press, has worked for that newspaper since 1982. His speciality is covering musical events. He, too, knows most of the women.
- LARA ALLEN, a graduate of Prof. Christopher Ballantine's Department of Music at the University of Natal in Durban, is completing a Ph.D. at Cambridge, UK, on black South African women singers, more or less of the same period. While in South Africa, she regularly contributed music reviews to The Star.
A special collector's edition of 100 numbered copies of superlative quality, individually signed by the author and the photographer is available at R500,00 per copy. Printed on glossy art paper with a silver lustre, in hardcover with a laminated dustjacket, it gives added richness to the feel of the book and the striking photographs. This edition can be ordered from the publishers only, so that we can keep a register of this exclusive edition. Please contact Kwela Books at kwela@kwela.com if you are interested.