In South Africa, long-standing racial segregation, codified by apartheid, accelerated the growth of new musical styles in the black townships where black workers sought some re- lease from the daily grind in music and dance. The resultant township music styles, known collectively as mbaqanga, had the raw urgency of postwar Chicago blues in the United States. With accordions, guitars, fiddles, percussion (and ul- timately electric bass and guitar), mbaqanga was rollicking party music inspired by traditional Zulu and Sotho styles in collision with Afro-American rhythm 'n blues, jazz, blues and, later, reggae. Full-throated singing, often harmonized, rode jumpy rhythms and countermelodies with joyous results; no wonder singer/songwriter extraordinaire Paul Simon used township musicians to recreate their sound on his acclaimed Graceland album. The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto collects some of the greatest mbaqanga tracks recorded during 1981-1984. Collectively, they are a moving, irresistible testament to the enduring vitality of the human spirit rising from the direst oppression.
