Africa Is a Country

Igor Stravinsky’s South Africa

Igor Stravinsky’s South Africa

By
Sean Jacobs

Long before Sun City there was this kind of thing.

From Time Magazine, June 1, 1962:

Composer Igor Stravinsky was conducting the South African Broadcasting Corp.’s symphony orchestra [that’s the state broadcaster] in the first of five concerts for whites only (a sixth was reserved for blacks). Stravinsky had asked that seating be integrated, but the broadcasting authorities coldly refused. The maestro’s opinion: “Music takes precedence over politics. I don’t think about these things because it is outside my competence. I have so many other things to think about.”

h/t: Suren Pillay

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.