They still dine out on the story in South Africa. Former US President Bill Clinton, so the tale goes, abandoned a plan to play his beloved trumpet at a South African jazz club because Hillary thought the environs too earthy.
Music is on my mind during a recent return to South Africa. I shun in-flight movies and, while working, enjoy two South African Airways audio channels featuring contemporary African music.
I listen to veteran singer Jonas Gwangwa's hit Freedom for Some (is Freedom for None), a catchy pro-democracy anthem by a composer responsible for some of the music in the film Cry Freedom, directed by Richard Attenborough, which chronicled part of South Africa's struggle against apartheid. Later, awaiting bags at Johannesburg International Airport, comes another reminder of music's importance here: a team of porters sing in unison, their style reminiscent of one of the country's most-acclaimed groups, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, whose profile was boosted through collaborations with Paul Simon.
South Africa, no longer a pariah state, is now a melting pot for sounds from all over the African continent: distinctive "high life" from Ghana, "Afrobeat" from Nigeria, music from the east, west and north of this 53-nation continent as well as from its south. Congolese musicians, incidentally, are dubbed the Filipinos of Africa: they play far and wide. Go to a five-star hotel anywhere on the continent and there's a good chance of hearing a band from Kinshasa or elsewhere in the Congo. Contemporary South Africa overflows with music from all over its continent.
The country also has its own eclectic mix of styles. The young – 40 per cent of the population is under 25 – adore kwaito, a pop style, and similar hip-hop variants. The internationally renowned Soweto String Quartet supplies an African spin to classical music, with ex-President Nelson Mandela reputedly playing their CDs in his office. Dance styles such as kwela took hold during apartheid's privations. A uniquely South African jazz-funk form called mbaqanga, rich with saxophones and trumpets, has many of today's biggest names as exponents.
African jazz embraces more than the word "jazz" suggests in Western countries. Sometimes it's called township jazz, since it often comes from the spread of residential districts – such as Soweto – on the edge of major cities.
Hunt for performances by South African musical stars – the biggest names include Miriam Makeba (see box), Hugh Masekela, Mozambican-born jazz guitarist Jimmy Dludlu, Tsepo Tshola (who styles himself the "Village Pope") and veteran jazz singer Sibongile Khumalo – while visiting South Africa on business. (Many household names have returned to settle after decades in exile. Music was always close to "the struggle"; it and political plotting shared the shadowy environment of shebeens, the unlicensed pubs illegal under apartheid.)
If no major headliners are performing, take the more relaxing option of quite literally playing things by ear: you're never far from music in this country so enjoy the unknowns and undiscovered.
Here are some of the best places to hear live music in South Africa's two most-visited business cities: Cape Town and Johannesburg:
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