DISBOOK - The Africa 2012 Edition - (Page 48)
Disbook AfricA 2012 - Joburg Vibes
rum was first published in Cape Town in March 1951 under the title « African Drum » by former test cricketer and author Bob Crisp. This venture was not successful and the magazine moved to Johannesburg in September 1951 under a new publisher, Jim Bailey an ex-RAF pilot, son of South African financier Sir Abe Bailey. Drum flourished, eventually achieving a circulation of 400,000 copies distributed not only in South Africa but also in Ghana, Nigeria and East Africa. Speaking of his experiences as editor of Drum in Johannesburg in the 1950s, British writer and journalist Anthony Sampson says: «Of all South Africa’s cities, Johannesburg was the chief magnet. The gold mines below and around the city absorbed thousands of contract workers. They arrived from the rural areas to be kept in bachelor compounds. Then, months later they were sent back to their homes when their contracts expired. This world existed alongside a much more sophisticated black Johannesburg of shebeens, dancehalls, snappy dressers - where life was lived fast, and on the streets. And it was this world which provided much of the creative talent in the magazine Drum.» The paper in its early years had a series of outstanding editors: Sir Anthony Sampson, Sylvester Stein, and Sir Tom Hopkinson. Both Sampson and Stein wrote books about their times as editor, respectively: « Drum: A Venture Into The New Africa » and « Who killed Mr Drum? » Drum’s heyday in the 1950s fell between the Defiance Campaign and the tragedy at Sharpeville (The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, at the township’s police station. After a day of demonstrations, at which a crowd of black protesters far outnumbered the police, the South African police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people, Ed.). This was the decade of potential Black emergence, the decade
D
KeeP tHe HerItAge ALIVe
Bayleys African History Archive holds 40 years of material from all editions of Drum Magazine and it’s various sister publications. The Archive contains a wealth of information from politics to culture and complexities of the vast Anglophone African nations. Prospero Bailey (descendant of Drum’s first successful publisher) has already embarked on a mission to extend the life of his collection of social history by digitally preserving these records in order to make it more accessible to the whole world. “We are developing our business initiative through better distribution (Internet) and encouragement towards usage of the archive. We will encourage publishers, museums, galleries and filmmakers to create more projects. The BAHA is actively continuing a vision of keeping this history alive through project-based development of the archive, that entertain, educate and expand the horizons and faculties of our cognitive senses, enabling us to reclaim our heritage and document our own history”, says Prospero. www.baha.co.za
when the Freedom Charter was written and the decade when the ANC alliance launched the Defiance Campaign. The aim was to promote an equal society. The Nationalist government responded with apartheid crackdowns and treason trials. It was also the decade of the movement to the cities, of Sophiatown (Sophiatown was one of the oldest black areas In Johannesburg. Before it’s destruction during apartheid it was the epicentre of politics, jazz and blues during the 1940s and 1950s; it produced some of South Africa’s most famous writers, musicians, politicians and artists, Ed.), of Black jazz, the jazz opera King Kong with a Black cast, an adoption of American culture, of shebeens (illegal drinking dens) and flamboyant American style gangsters (tsotsis) with chrome-laden American cars who spoke a slang called Tsotsitaal. It was a time of optimism and hope. Drum was a « record of naivety, optimism, frustration, defiance, courage, dancing, drink, jazz, gangsters, exile and death », explains Bailey. Drum described the world of the urban Black; the culture, the colour, dreams, ambitions, hopes and struggles. Lewis Nkosi, famous writer and essayist, described Drum’s young writers, as « the new African’s cut adrift from the tribal reserve - urbanised, eager, fast-talking and brash ».
Drum staff is checking lynette kolati’s measurements. Originally from Western township in Johannesburg, she became a legend, and made this May’ 56 cover one of Drum’s most iconics.
The atmosphere in Drum’s newsroom, according to Peter Magubane, « was a different home; it did not have Apartheid. There was no discrimination in the offices of the magazine. It was only when you left Drum and entered the world outside of the main door that you knew you were in apartheid land. But while you were inside Drum magazine, everyone there was a family.» Drum’s stellar cast of Black journalists included such names as Henry Nxumalo (also known as « Mr Drum »), Can Themba, Todd Matshikiza, Nat Nakasa, Lewis Nkosi and others such as William Bloke Modisane, Arthur Maimane, and Casey Mot-
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http://www.baha.co.za
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DISBOOK - The Africa 2012 Edition
Cover
Foreword - Welcome to Johannesburg!
Content
Conference Program
- English Version
- Version Française
Joburg Vibes
- Street Talks
- Drum Archive
- Made in Maboneng
- The Bioscope
- Faces
First Look
- Watercolors of love - Siri
- Mooz-Lum - Meet the Adebanjo’s
- Irrational Heart - Destiny River
- City of Men - Black hands
Trends & Business
- Made in Africa / Made for Africa
- The titans of laamb
- Inside «Inside Story»
- Ecology of african audiovisual content industry
- Gems from the namibian film collection
- The century of formats
- Great formats will come from Africa
- Partners wanted
- How many people (really) watch TV in Africa?
- Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ?
- Africa’s digital switchover is coming - The question is when ?
- Intelsat’s epic
- China in Africa
- Zee : from a to z
- The Brazilians are coming !
- Against all odds
- Discover Discovery in Africa at Discop Africa
- Television with a purpose - A detailed look at educational television
- Branded Entertainment
- Hot docs-Blue ice, a unique opportunity for African documentary makers
- A solution to Africa’s thorny problem of dubbing costs
- Mission statement
Country report
- ALGERIA
- ANGOLA
- BENIN
- BOSTWANA
- BURKINA FASO
- BURUNDI
- CABO VERDE
- CAMEROON
- CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
- CHAD
- COMOROS
- DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- DJIBOUTI
- EGYPT
- EQUATORIAL GUINEA
- ERITREA
- ETHIOPIA
- GABON
- GAMBIA
- GHANA
- GUINEA BISSAU
- GUINEA CONAKRY
- IVORY COAST / CÔTE D'IVOIRE
- KENYA
- LESOTHO
- LIBERIA
- LYBIA
- MADAGASCAR
- MALAWI
- MALI
- MAURITANIA
- MAURITIUS
- MOROCCO
- MOZAMBIQUE
- NAMIBIA
- NIGER
- NIGERIA
- REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
- RWANDA
- SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
- SIERRA LEONE
- SENEGAL
- SEYCHELLES
- SOMALIA
- SOUTH AFRICA
- SOUTH SUDAN
- SUDAN
- SWAZILAND
- TANZANIA
- TOGO
- TUNISIA
- UGANDA
- ZAMBIA
- ZIMBABWE
Speakers
Participants
Index Advertisers
DISBOOK - The Africa 2012 Edition
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