IVa. Maintaining South African Music Style

In a poem "The Ordeal," Brutus wrote:

I have been bedded
in London and Paris
in Munich and Frankfurt,
Warsaw and Rome–
And still my heart cries out for home!

Despite extensive journeys during exile, Brutus remained committed to South Africa. Here, he portrays his emotional attachment that complemented his continuing political activism. Nostalgic, Nortje recreates his home landscape in “In Exile,” imagining that “southern / blue sky and wind-beautiful / day, creating paradise” (Nortje 171), and Brutus adds that the “foreign landscape…echoes remembered beauty” (Masekela, “Stubborn Hope” 94). Their poetry is tied to South Africa, indicating their persisting commitment to affect the future of South Africa. Similarly, one of the most effective ways that Masekela and Makeba brought attention to their cause was through their distinctive musical style that pointed to South Africa. Both artists used America as their career’s launching point. In a large part, they got their break into the music scene because of their infusion of South African music.

Staying true to their musical roots was their best path to success in America. Makeba made this self-realization: “In America I realized I was something of a novelty. I was different. This made me realize that my strength would be in staying true to my roots. If I sang my music from home, if I sang the music of my roots, only then could I be someone. I think if I had gone to America and done their type, they would have laughed at me because Ella Fitzgerald was there and you cannot beat people at their game” (Makeba 66). Masekela understood this after the failure of his first album, Trumpet Africaine. He expresses the mistake of not sticking to the music of his South African days: “That I didn’t tap into my township dance band experiences with Zakes Nkosi, Ntemi Piliso, Elijah Nkwanyana, and the Merry Makers, or even my Huddleston Jazz Band beginnings boggles my mind to this day” (Masekela 156).

In order to prevent becoming a “statistic…[among] the thousands of us jazz musicians” (Masekela 165), the two artists developed a musical style that made them unique in America, kept them attached to their South African roots, and signaled to listeners their commitment to South Africa. They did this through recording South African songs.

For example, one of Makeba’s most popular songs was the "Click Song" – a song she learned from her rich South African musical community. At performances, she introduced the song by saying, ‘In my native village in Johannesburg, there is a song that we always sing when a young girl gets married. It is called the ‘Click Song’ by the English because they cannot say ‘qongqothwane’” (Makeba 62). Another one of Makeba’s signature songs was "Pata Pata", which means 'touch touch.' While still in South Africa, she wrote the song, about a township dance, 11 years before she recorded it in 1967.

Rebounding from the failure of Trumpet Africaine, Hugh Masekela recorded South African township favorites. “The repertoire was pure township dance band songs like "Johannesburg Hi-lite Jive," a favorite classic, Douglas Xaba's "Emavungwini," The Dark City Sisters' "Iya Hlupeka Le Ngane,” “Ntyilo Ntyilo,” and other township classics” (Masekela 173). The title of his first live album, The Americanization of Ooga-Booga, depicts his delivery of South African music to American culture.