A ground breaking book on healing through spirituality and music. Set during the musical clinic of South Africa’s miracle peaceful transformation, it is an amazing story of the power of music to bring joy, growth and healing.
Born in 1936 Graham fought for human rights from all angles. He saw himself as a white man in Africa, here to set right the wrongs of his tribal line. He shared a deep spirituality with the ancestral heritage of the African continent and thanked the great architect of Africa for his grace. He found no greater enemy than South Africa's apartheid government. From 1952 – 1974 he was labeled a notorious criminal and incarcerated in many jails from which he escaped. In jail he was starved and tortured, out of jail he was hunted. He fled South Africa in 1969 by foot in a futile attempt to join the P.A.C. in Tanzania. On learning to read he overcame his dyslexia and by swallowing his bed springs freed himself from jail. In 1975 he married Jenny Clark. Jenny had polio as a child and is 95% physically disabled. Graham was never involved in any political party and fought for freedom, justice and equality from the unwavering truths of his heart.
Archives of recorded music and overviews of the development of music in South Africa is a living and dynamic resource. Through dedicated research and publish, afribeat.com makes these archives permanently available to education. Southern Africa is vast land united from ancient times. And music is the expression of this unity. There are many different people and many different musical flavours. This research, interviews, comments, anecdotes and collections are compiled over decade and generations. These memories cover the length and breadth of music in the distict regions. Afribeat.com explores all sounds of the continent from the Mbalax in the North to the Malombo. The Xhosa Africa Cape Jazz of the East and the Mbaqanga . Jazz in South Africa has come to mean freedom as jazz is expressed through uBuntu. Friendships have formed all over the world to sustain and nurture this music.
From the main cities of Southern Africa, from coast to coast, to the rural areas and hinterlands - the musical sound vibration is a multi-cultural mix of spirited togetherness and actualisation.
We must know where we come from to know where we are going. This archive includes 25 years of Exile History. Jazz Against Apartheid is a vehicle for change. As a form of Cultural Activism, “jazz fought the struggle and won,” as Zim Ngqawana put it. And now in the post-1994 era and in the 2024 moment, jazz has come to represent the united efforts for equal access to opportunity, education, cultural roots and memory across multiple disciplines and from multiple perspectives.
Jim Bailey is the founder of Baileys African History Archives. He brought Drum magazine out in the 1950s. Drum was great mover on the African continent. It was a complet rol ecall of the creative geniuses of an era of South African history and heritage, whilst contributing to Africa's liberation march during the 1960's. Bailey was a personal friend and benefactor of a number of African leaders. They included Jomo Kenyata and Tom Mboya (Kenya), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Nigeria), Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu (South Africa). These memoirs and others are documented in the posthumous poetry collection, 'Airborne to Africa'.
"The events take place in South Africa, in a post-democracy climate of change. The struggles that had taken place below ground are suddenly above ground. South Africa at the time was so beautiful and enticing."
Vusi Mchunu is the founder of House of Memory. Activations, preservations and disseminations including arts, books, proverbs, teachings, ground-up knowledge and foundation courses in African arts culture and spirituality, House of Memory is a resource for the worldwide Black Consciousness movement as a multi-disciplined arts practice.
