Jazz Articles

Kheswa & Her Martians: Meadowlands, Stolen Jazz

by James Nadal
November 19, 2013

There has not been a more poignant situation in jazz history than that of South Africa, where the pathetic and deplorable conditions of apartheid made “jazz style music" illegal amongst the native people. This of course made jazz musicians outlaws and heroes, and drove the music underground into the townships, where it thrived despite desperate attempts to eradicate it as some form of cultural virus. Vocalist Nonhlanhla Kheswa and Her Martians have revived and expanded the classic South ...