Abstract
SummaryCape Town, apart from its famed New Year festive season jamboree once known by the moniker “Coon Carnival”, is arguably the most musical city in South Africa due in no small measure to its exposure to international cultural currents flowing from across the seas to its renowned harbour. Drawing on musical influences from Africa and the USA, the Mother City has given birth to some of South Africa's most gifted musicians who emerged out of the grim shadow of apartheid to shine in the galaxy of music superstars. Reflecting on the careers of three sons of this city, Zayn Adam (also Adams in some sources), Richard Jon Smith and Jonathan Butler, this article endorses what Martin Stokes has said about music, namely as “the means by which this [social] space can be transformed” (Stokes 1994: 4). In focussing on these three artistes, this article spotlights a historic moment in South Africa's cultural production - its popular music of the 1970s and 1980s and how these cultural ambassadors transcended the ontology of their race and the apartheid structuration of the city to make their presence in the world of popular entertainment both in South Africa and globally.
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