The Township Came to Milton Thursday Night

By NEHA MODAK ‘22

The night he was put in jail, Lulu Gontsana, a black jazz musician from South Africa, was returning home from a wedding gig at a white country club. During apartheid, the law stated that a black man could be outside after dark only with a note from a white person. As Gotsana’s ride had already left and the white manager was nowhere to be found, he decided to take a gamble. Authorities saw Gontsana walking home with drums and sticks from the European Jazz Festival. Assuming these possessions were stolen, the police pulled him over, asked for his note, and, after failing to produce one, Gontsana was promptly arrested. If his manager had not noticed he was missing and bailed him out, he would have been moved to a permanent jail. Years later, Gontsana recounted this story to his friend Mr. Sinicrope, the Jazz Director at Milton. Mr. Sinicrope was shocked at the injustice of the whole situation. He asked Gontsana, “How do you not hate every white person you have ever encountered?” To this Gontsana replied, “One has to let it go.” Despite being treated like a school child needing a hall pass due to his race and then put in jail for weeks, Gontsana was able to forgive.

This ability to let it go has been built into the South African psyche after years of apartheid. This culture has been translated through township jazz music for years. On Thursday, October 18, Milton students brought this South African spirit here through their performances in the Fall Jazz Concert. They performed Strike Vilakazi’s “Meadowlands”, an apartheid protest tune. The meadowlands were a place where black people were forced to relocate to after being thrown out of their homes in Sophiatown. This tune was a way to convey anti-government beliefs covertly. Similarly, the students played Abdullah Ibrahim’s “Mannenberg”, which became a symbol of the fight against apartheid. Ibrahim, a black man, was forced to move to the ‘colored’ township of Manenberg after his home in District 6 was bulldozed. Bulldozing entire communities was a regular practice at the time.

A highlight of the concert was the symbolic tune “Bring Back Nelson Mandela” by Hugh Masekela. On his birthday, Masekela received a letter from Nelson Mandela, who, in prison at the time, wished him well and asked how he was doing. Inspired, Masekela composed the tune Bring Back Nelson Mandela, which became an anti-apartheid anthem.

These three tunes, “Meadowlands”, “Mannenberg”, and “Bring Back Nelson Mandela”, illustrate the symbolism and character behind South African jazz. The tunes carry deep meaning about freedom, and overcoming the injustices that took place in the country. As Mr. Sinicrope says, “When we play the tunes here tonight I think some people will say, ‘Oh that’s nice.’ But if there are South Africans in the audience, it’s going to touch their hearts.”

The connections between Milton and South Africa go back years. After hearing Abdullah Ibrahim’s music on the radio, Mr. Sinicrope liked it so much that he got in touch with him. He asked Ibrahim to play a fundraising concert at Milton in order to raise money for a scholarship fund. Ibrahim accepted, and when he was at Milton he heard the jazz group performing at an  assembly. Upon listening, he insisted that the jazz group come to South Africa. Twenty-six years later, Milton’s jazz program still goes on tour in the country every other year. The students play music side by side with township children and interact with the local culture. It is an out-of-body experience for many students, but the welcoming nature of South Africans makes the two groups blend seamlessly. Mr Sinicrope recalls, “Here we are marching... a bunch of prep school kids marching in a parade in a black township in Cape Town. It was surreal.” The spirit of South African jazz has created many beautiful experiences for the Milton Academy community. The Fall Jazz Concert served as another testament to the significance of South African Jazz and the story of how it has influenced Milton.