Jazz Articles about Vusi Mahlasela

South Africa: A Rough Guide & Vusi Mahlasela

by AAJ Staff
March 7, 2007

South Africa has fostered its own musical traditions since long before the earliest days of the colonial era, but the 20th Century saw an explosion of new styles and their widespread documentation on record.

The mass relocation of rural blacks to urban areas, where they sought mining and service jobs, led to the establishment of poor township communities and the concomitant development of iscathamiya, maskanda and marabi, then later on kwela, mbaqanga, contemporary gospel and kwaito--the latter a fascinating, massively ...