How white economic empowerment, specifically afrikaner economic empowerment, uplifted white South Africans through official government policy from the early 1900s into apartheid
In modern-day South Africa, black economic empowerment (B.E.E) policy is sometimes criticized as being unfair. A common notion is that the generally white wealth class did it all for themselves through hard work and talent, with barely any help.
The truth is that B.E.E is nothing compared to the targeted government intervention white people benefited from.
Here is a short history of key policies that uplifted white people through exploitation of black people from the very beginning of this country.
Union before Apartheid
1910: Country formed after war between british and afrikaners. Only white people can vote besides a small group of people…
A love letter to stories, sport, and little miracles
Sport is strange. We don’t need it. Nothing about sport is vital to human life or happiness. Ultimately, sport shouldn’t matter. Yet, it does. When nations win major competitions, their presidents almost always get re-elected on the wave of joy and goodwill. Sport has contributed to healing fractured societies and provided glorious escapism to competitors and supporters, time and again.
Sport is like movies, because sport has beautiful narratives. It has heroes and villains, Davids and Goliaths, crushing defeats, miraculous upsets, superhuman efforts, and everything we have ever loved in a romantic story. Yet, sport is better than movies, because…
Hugh Masekela is one of the most celebrated international jazz legends in history. He was born in Witbank, South Africa, in 1939. He played piano and sang as a young child. Then, at fourteen years old, he saw a movie about American jazz named Young Man with a Horn. That film inspired Masekela to play the trumpet that he is now so famous for.
In 1959, Masekela joined Dollar Brand, Kippie Moeketsi, Makhaya Ntshoko and Johnny Gertze to form the Jazz Epistles. They were wildly successful and performed to record-breaking crowds. They were the first African jazz group to…
Brenda Fassie is an international music icon. She has been compared with the greatest pop stars in the world. Although, when an interviewer said that Brenda had been called the Madonna of the townships, Brenda replied ‘No, no, sweetie. Madonna is the Brenda of America.’
She was born in 1964 in Langa in Cape Town. She started her first singing group, called the Tiny Tots, when she was just four years old. She moved to Soweto in Johannesburg in her teenage years to pursue a career in music.
Her debut single was a recording-breaking smash hit. The record was…
Basil Coetzee is one of the greatest jazzmen ever. He was born in District Six in Cape Town in 1944, and fell in love with music through living in District Six, and experiencing its vibrant and dynamic music scene. Coetzee started playing the penny whistle in live performances when he was just fourteen years old. He moved onto drums and then the flute, before picking up the instrument that he would become world-renowned for, the tenor saxophone. He taught himself all of these instruments.
Coetzee was affectionately known by two nicknames. One is ‘Ou B’, and the second is…
Katy wanted a woke millennial angst anthem, but Chained To The Rhythm sounds calculated and insincere. P!nk’s instant hit expresses the emotional tumult of 2017’s disheartened young people much better.
Pop rarely does politics well. Lyrically, pop is obsessed with age-old concerns of all people. The genre rewrites universal experiences of life over and over. It does love very well. It rephrases joy, disappointment, anger, excitement, and hope. Every year that seismic political events occupy the public’s attention, pop stars try to cash in. And this era is defined by millennial discontent at the state of the world. Donald Trump’s election and rising prevalence of explicit neo-nazism in America has politicised US pop music. Every artist at every award show has a statement on it.
Have you heard what Bessie Smith was singing about lollipops in the 20s? How about the 400 year old dildo song? Music is not dirtier now. It’s just more accessible.
50 Cent is one of those artists who people use to try and prove that music has become too dirty, too sordid, too sexually explicit. Apparently, it has never been this bad. Each generation has fallen further into moral decay, allegedly. There was nothing like Fiddy when they were young. There was nothing like Snoop.
History disagrees.
Here are two songs about lollipops. Which is by a 2000s gangster rapper, and which is by a 1920s blues singer?
I’ll take you to the candy shop
I’ll let you lick the lollipop
Go ahead, girl, don’t you stop
Keep going ’til you hit the…
‘Sincerity’ is critical for most people when they describe what makes music good. Something about your favourite record feels ‘real’ and ‘genuine’. You believe that the sentiment in the lyrics is an ‘authentic’ expression of the singer’s emotional experience of the world. You value this because you want the power of the song to come from something real. You want to feel like someone else experiences the world the way you do, and has put your and their shared experiences into music that sounds beautiful.
Martin Garrix and Dua Lipa collaborated to make a truly great ‘pop’ record named Scared…
What is it about your favourite radio presenter that makes them the best? Many conventions make good radio, but one skill makes great radio.
All radio presenters are really trying to do is convince you to spend a little time every day with them, through what they talk about, and how they talk about it. Yet, everyone likes their radio presenters a little different. People love radio presenters who possess admirable qualities, but everyone finds different qualities admirable. It all depends on the kind of person you as a listener want to spend time with.
Some love shock jocks because they ‘break the rules’ / ‘tell it like it is’ / ‘don’t give a damn about political correctness.’ Others find shock jocks arrogant, obnoxious and offensive.
Some love the wholesome sweetheart presenters who remind you of pleasant breakfasts with your parents. Others find this “ideal family member” style of radio painfully boring.
Some love the narcissistic celebrity presenters who exclusively come up with content about their own lives. Some seek the news and knowledge presenters who will teach you about the world. Some like their radio jocks childish and tongue in cheek. …
The biggest obstacle to musicians is the music industry. Soundcloud can free artists from self-interested industry middle-men using blockchain. The platform has already opened up the whole world for anyone making music. It can revolutionise our soundscapes again.
My career in radio, working with music and artists has taught me the following:
The Music Industry Mess
The world is full of extraordinary songs by artists with no fans, labels or money behind them. These songs go nowhere because exposure to audiences is carefully controlled by companies who seek to promote their own artists. With money and networks, you can buy legions of social media followers and use them to dupe the public into listening to your tracks. With a stable of artists, you can influence concert and festival creators to make space for your lesser-known performers in exchange for providing your bigger…
Dan Corder
Broadcaster | Show Director | Radio Show Host | Researcher | Lecturer | South African | elsewhere @dancorderonair and dancorder.co
