Today we have a great and rare piece of music for you. And we want you to read this article first, because we are pretty sure that you will enjoy the song even more after knowing what is the story behind it.
The following article was written and researched by: The Electric Jive http://electricjive.blogspot.com/2010/07/50s-south-african-jazz-punts-skin.html.
We thank them for digging into the background of this great piece of music. Every African music lover should check out their blog.
50s South African Jazz punts skin lighteners
The
insidious impact of mass media in shaping our identities and preferences
goes way back and more than skin deep! Take this 78rpm South African
Jazz record from 1956, singing the praises of skin lighteners and
Vaseline. “Who’s that girl” … “the best looking girl I ever did see”
performed by the "Basin Tone Drifters" and sung in the style of the
Manhattan Brothers in English and Zulu extols the virtues of Pond’s
Vanishing Cream and Blue Seal Vaseline.
A further twist in this fascinating early advertising tale is that the composer is registered under the pseudonym “Mafutha Amahlope” – literally meaning “Fat Whitey”. At least the real author Christoffel Nicolaas Du Toit had some sense of humour? The U.S. Library of Congress Catalogue of Published Music also records that Melody Music of Johannesburg registered these two songs on 1st October 1956.
South Africa’s first commercial radio station, Springbok Radio, was
launched on 1st May 1950. African language broadcasts to the
metropolitan areas began in 1953. We wonder if these recordings were
paid-for advertising jingles or passed off as Kwela jive harmony hits?
There can be no doubt though, this record must be amongst the first
examples of purpose-made music/advertising aimed at South Africa's black
consumers.
Despite being banned in South Africa in 1986, skin lighteners are still used, and the broader debates around skin lightening, identity, beauty and aspirations continue. Going by a recent article in the Sowetan, these debates are changing though.
Despite being banned in South Africa in 1986, skin lighteners are still used, and the broader debates around skin lightening, identity, beauty and aspirations continue. Going by a recent article in the Sowetan, these debates are changing though.
“More than ever South Africans
are realising that black is beautiful. As a nation we have overcome the
baasskap mentality that suggests that anything dark is ugly and
therefore undesirable.
“Politically we are maturing and we are taking pride in who we are. This is filtering through to the modeling industry and the media,” Mazibuko says.
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| Sudanese Supermodel Alek Wek |
Mazibuko
observes that the curse of the darker skinned woman was broken by
African model Alek Wek, (right) a Sudanese refugee who made her US
modelling debut a few years ago. She has since become one of the most
sought-after models in the business.
In
addition to her magazine covers, Wek has modelled for scores of top
designers, walked in major fashion shows all over Europe and the US
opening shows for huge names such as Ralph Lauren.
Mazibuko
adds that the Africanist ideals of people such as Thabo Mbeki and
former Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah have influenced the way a lot of
Black South Africans think about themselves.
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| Amalope Mafuta Who's That Girl Label |
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| Amahlope Mafuta Blue Seal Jive Label |
Now looking at 2013. Just this month Ponds has launched a new face cream called BP and the advert running every evening a dozen times on TV goes like this; " I want radiant and flawless skin in an instant"......., said by a stunning beautiful girl of very light skin tone.....
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