Red Bull Music pays tribute to SA’s club culture in new doccie

Red Bull Music has released Rave & Resistance, a music documentary that looks at the birth of club culture in Johannesburg, featuring the views of industry giants such as Oskido, Lakuti, Bob Mabena, Vinny Da Vinci, DJ Christos, Trompies and G-Force, as they take people on a journey to the origins of dance music in South Africa.

In referencing the most distinct periods in South African music culture, the documentary is directed by Zandi Tisani, Johannesburg-based filmmaker and reminisces on how legends such as Brenda Fassie, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Chicco Twala, Dan Nkosi and the likes, shaped the face of bubblegum, and subsequently influenced the emergence of musicians such as Zola, Bongo Maffin, Mdu, Mandoza and Boom Shaka.

Music has always been an intrinsic bedrock for the South African society and a phenomenon that was evident during the most difficult times of apartheid, as it epitomised social cohesion. Today, music continues to play an important role in society, aside from pure entertainment.

Rave & Resistance will draw you back to a time in townships where young black kids were finding a way to voice their experiences in a way that had never been done before, while white people, struggling with their privilege, were looking at ways to connect with a world they had been separated from. These two worlds would collide in abandoned buildings in the inner city and mega bashes in the townships. Their combined efforts would produce a sound that would help the country forge its identity and become significant across the world.

The documentary revisits pivotal moments in music history, as it recalls a rainbow nation that was flanked by bubblegum music and social clubs that were open to people of all races and sexualities. This was an era that marked rapid change and social upheaval. Apartheid was drawing to a close and the new South Africa was yet to be born.

Rave & Resistance is available on Red Bull YouTube and Red Bull TV.