In exile, the African National Congress needed more than soldiers. In 1980, at the movement’s request, the trombonist Jonas Gwangwa assembled Amandla, a cultural ensemble that toured the world with songs, dances and drama about the struggle against apartheid. For a decade, it was one of the ANC’s most effective weapons.
Orlando East
Gwangwa grew up in Orlando East, Soweto. He joined the Huddleston Jazz Band, formed through the anti-apartheid priest Trevor Huddleston, the same band that gave a young Hugh Masekela his first trumpet. The two became lifelong friends and collaborators.
The Jazz Epistles
In 1959 Gwangwa was a founding member of the Jazz Epistles, alongside Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, then known as Dollar Brand, and Kippie Moeketsi. Their album that year is remembered as a turning point in modern South African jazz, the first by a Black South African jazz group to be recorded as an LP.
Exile
After the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 and the tightening of apartheid, Gwangwa left South Africa. He spent decades abroad, in Britain, the United States and southern Africa, building a career as a trombonist, arranger and composer.
Amandla
As musical director of Amandla, Gwangwa shaped performances that blended jazz, traditional music and protest songs. The ensemble performed in many countries, spreading awareness of apartheid and raising support for the ANC.
Cry Freedom
In 1987 Gwangwa co-composed the score for Richard Attenborough’s film Cry Freedom, about the activist Steve Biko and the journalist Donald Woods, with George Fenton. The music earned Oscar nominations at the 1988 Academy Awards, including for the title song.
Return
Gwangwa returned to South Africa in 1991 after the unbanning of the ANC. He was honoured by the new democratic government and composed music for national occasions.
His death
Jonas Gwangwa died on 23 January 2021. South Africa held an official funeral for him. Tributes described a musician whose trombone was part of the soundtrack of liberation.
Sound of a generation
Gwangwa’s trombone style was warm and full, rooted in the marabi and mbaqanga sounds of the townships as much as in American jazz. He was part of a remarkable generation of South African jazz musicians, including Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Kippie Moeketsi and Miriam Makeba, many of whom were forced into exile in the 1960s. Abroad, they carried South African music to audiences in London, New York and across Africa. Gwangwa’s arrangements for Amandla and his film work brought township sounds into theatres and cinemas. Younger South African musicians who grew up after apartheid often point to that generation as the reason their own music has a global audience.
Many South African musicians suffered in exile. Gwangwa turned exile into a stage, and he made the world listen to what apartheid was doing to his country.
