‘Radio Apartheid’: Investigating a History of Compliance and Resistance in Popular Afrikaans Music, 1956–1979

Abstract

The ideologues responsible for the construction of hegemonic Afrikaner identity during the era that saw the rise (and fall) of apartheid, did so by painstakingly weaving Afrikaner nationalist ideology into the fabric of Afrikaner society. This had a crucial impact on Afrikaner culture, including the sphere of popular Afrikaans music. The majority of Afrikaans artists did not resist these efforts by apartheid's cultural entrepreneurs, but not all. Some preferred local indigenous music styles of the ‘racial other’ over European trends at a time of increasing racial segregation and complex identity politics. Furthermore, during this time commercial Afrikaans music lost its legitimacy among Afrikaner youths, who preferred to listen to English rock and pop hits from abroad. This preference did not, however, lead to noteworthy anti-establishment sentiments until 1979 when a group of Afrikaans music artists started to question the non-confrontational, compliant mainstream Afrikaans pop....