Beginner’s Guide to South Africa

The title’s something of a misnomer. While this extended trawl of the last 30 plus years of South African music will certainly form a foundation for the beginner, these three discs also offer up plenty of treasures for anyone who’s graduated well beyond the novice stage.

Pieced together by South African music authority (and Songlines contributor) Nigel Williamson, things are neatly compartmentalised into three time periods: current sounds (‘South Africa Now’), the immediate post-apartheid period (‘Rainbow Shoots’) and the darker years’ rhythms of resistance (‘Township Roots’). It’s probably the latter that’s the home of the most familiar material and the main players – Hugh, Miriam, Ladysmith, Abdullah and others. But there some forgotten jewels dusted off too, including Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens’ finest moment ‘Lilzela Mlilzeli’ and Sipho Mabuse’s irresistible ‘Jive Soweto. For the listener who at least partially knows his or her onions, there’s plenty of new discovery to be had elsewhere. On ‘South Africa Now, new-generation encounters are waiting with black rock (BLK JKS), hip-hop (Ishmael featuring Bongz) and homegrown house (the scintillating Black Coffee). On ‘Rainbow Shoots’, the optimism of those times is unavoidable, from The Mighty Zulu Nation’s ‘Justice Day’ to the soaring, hopeful vocals of Busi Mhlongo. This is the soundtrack to which a freshly released Mandela began reshaping a country fractured for so long. Eclectic yet with a unified sense of purpose, it would prove a snug fit with the principles of the new Rainbow Nation.