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Democracy and the Arts in South Africa

How are the arts in South Africa reflecting the country’s journey since the end of apartheid.

Twenty years on from the end of apartheid, what role can the arts play now in helping South African society develop? Recorded with an audience at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Bridget Kendall talks to playwright Mike Van Graan, poet Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, arts journalist Percy Mabandu, and jazz singer Nomfundo Xaluva who performs live for us.

(Photo: From left, Mike Van Graan, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, Percy Mabandu and Nomfundo Xaluva. Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ copyright)

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41 minutes

Last on

Mon 4 Aug 2014 02:06GMT

Chapters

  • Playwright Mike Van Graan

    Why South African democracy needs the arts

    Duration: 14:30

  • Poet Phillippa Yaa de Villiers

    Your skin colour is not your identity

    Duration: 05:38

  • Arts journalist Percy Mabandu

    Jazz is the democratic process incarnate

    Duration: 11:11

  • Jazz singer Nomfundo Xaluva

    South African protest classic lives on

    Duration: 04:48

Mike Van Graan

Mike Van Graan
For playwright Mike Van Graan, satire remains a powerful tool:Β  it is just the targets that have changed.Β  His new play, Return of the Ancestors, imagines murdered activist Steve Biko visiting modern South Africa. Encountering government corruption, poverty and police brutality, Biko begins to question whether his sacrifice was worth it.

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers

As a mixed-race African and adoptee, poet Phillippa Yaa de Villiers has always felt like an outsider in her own culture, but this has turned out to be an advantage as an artist.Β  Free of the constraints of a traditional role, she simply tries to tell her truth as generously as she can.Β 

Percy Mabandu

Percy Mabandu

Arts journalist Percy Mabandu believes that jazz is the most democratic of all art forms, and so invokes it in taking stock of how far his country has come over two decades. Like democracy, the music demands strict collaboration but also handsomely rewards individuality. Perhaps we could all learn from its example.

Nomfundo Xaluva

Nomfundo Xaluva

Jazz singer and pianist Nomfundo Xaluva performs a live rendition of Yakhal’Inkomo and explains why this song, which holds deep meaning for black South Africans as an anthem of the anti-apartheid struggle, is still inspiring musicians today.

Broadcasts

  • Sat 2 Aug 2014 21:06GMT
  • Sun 3 Aug 2014 09:06GMT
  • Mon 4 Aug 2014 02:06GMT

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