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- Title
AFRICAN PROTEST SONGS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND BEYOND: AN ANALYSIS OF "BHUTI NGICELI iLIFT IN YOUR ZOLA BUDD".
- Authors
Labuschagne, Pieter
- Abstract
During the apartheid years struggle songs, criticising the apartheid regime and then Prime Minister Dr HF Verwoerd, were immensely popular in the black community. Because of the animosity between black and white, South African sport was not a nation-builder to affect any changes in a deeply divided and fragmented society. But a few years after the Soweto uprising, a song with the curious title of "Bhuti Ngiceli ilift in your Zola Budd" by the Afro-pop star / Kwaito singer, Brenda Fassie, brought a white athlete competing under the auspices of the apartheid regime to black taxi commuters' attention. Fassie's song captured the imagination of the black community and it resonated with the African culture. Soon Budd's speed on the racetrack was equated with that of minibus taxis in township streets. That sport could bridge the racial divide was quite remarkable at the time. As minibus taxis (appropriately named Zola Budd taxis) sped from one stop to the next, the song played on the radio. The African culture, melody and rhythm of Fassie's African song transformed sport into a powerful cross-racial nation-builder.
- Subjects
BLACK people; PROTEST songs; RADIO dramas; APARTHEID; PRIME ministers; COMMUTERS; RACISM in sports; IMAGINATION
- Publication
South African Journal of Cultural History, 2023, Vol 37, Issue 1, p131
- ISSN
1018-0745
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.54272/sach.2023.v37n1a7