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| About SA > Arts and Culture |
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South Africa’s arts and culture are as rich and varied as one might expect from such a diverse nation. Local music is characterised by its fusion of a broad spectrum of musical forms, with musicians tapping into the rich musical inheritance of South Africa, while remaining open to the influence of music from other countries.
 South Africa is the 25th largest market for recorded music, with the industry employing more than 20 000 people. Local music accounts for a third of all the music bought by South Africans.
Township jazz and blues, especially the kwela music of the forties and fifties, are being redefined, while the country has a rich choral tradition and pop and rock musicians have made their mark internationally. Even techno-raves and house music have found their own variations in local culture. Today, musicians from all over Africa perform in nightclubs throughout South Africa.
South African dance is similarly unique in its vitality and energy. More and more South African dance companies and individual dancers and choreographers are invited to perform at festivals throughout Europe, Australia and the United States.
Contemporary work ranges from the unconventional to normal preconceptions of movement and performance art or performance theatre. Added to these is the African experience, which includes traditional dance, inspired by wedding ceremonies, battles,rituals and the trifles of everyday life.
Started in 1934 as the University of Cape Town Ballet Company, the Cape Town City Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the country. Ninety-nine percent of the artists employed by the company are local artists.
The performing arts marketed South Africa most effectively to overseas audiences during the eighties, specifically through theatre and musical productions. As a result, South African theatre is internationally acclaimed as unique and of top-class standard.
Performing Arts Companies, including the State Theatre in Pretoria, the Playhouse Company in Durban, ArtsCape in Cape Town, and the Market Theatre and Windybrow Theatre in Johannesburg, ensure a sustainable performing arts industry based on access, excellence, diversity and redress.
Extremely popular outlets for performing arts are the various arts festivals held both in the major metropolitan areas and smaller venues such as Grahamstown and Oudtshoorn.
Less high profile than music or performing arts, but of even greater economic significance is the crafts industry which employs about one million people, with South African crafts being exported all over the world.
The number of film and photo shoots in January 2002 in Cape Town amounted to 950 shooting days, with most of the commercials shot in the city by crews from France, Germany and Britain.
The film and video sector is important for both job and income creation. A report suggested that the industry generated up to R4 billion in 2001 in Cape Town alone. In partnership with the National Film and Video Foundation, the Department of Arts and Culture is proactively working with provincial governments in developing their film industries further.
South African film is at the cutting edge in terms of imagination, technology and product quality, with a wealth of experienced, talented and skilled people, both at management and operational level. Combined with the advanced technology employed across the industry, this talent provides foreign investors and producers with an excellent support infrastructure.
January 2002 was the best month ever for filming in just one location, Cape Town, with the city’s Film Office issuing 600 permits, compared with 300 permits issued in December 2001. Most permits were for photo shoots but a third were for films. Film and photo shoots in the city in January amounted to 950 shooting days.
South African broadcasters are now exploring opportunities to distribute local productions into the rest of Africa through direct sales and through a form of bartering, where content is exchanged for advertising airtime. This is expected to increase demand for locally produced television content.
On the literary front South Africa boxes above its weight. Its writers and poets have enriched the literature of English, winning several of the world’s major awards. But this is only one of the languages into which the country’s literary genius is channelled. Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu and other writers have enriched the world of literature While arts and culture are flourishing across the country, the Department is supporting them by encouraging growth and investment. Over the next three years the Department will embark on a R180-million skills training for the creative industries including crafts, film, music and live events.
The local music industry employs more than 20 000 people, and more than one third of the music bought by South Africans is generated in the country.
By February 2003, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s craft project in the Eastern Cape had created 275 jobs.
In 2003/04, the Department will work with the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure that the Craft Export Council is established.
Based on the success of crafts and cultural projects, the Department will spend R95 million of povertyalleviation funding towards this end over the next few years.
One area in particular which has been identified for growth is cultural tourism. Professional and innovative museums (of which South Africa has more than 300), galleries and theatres are key attractions for cultural tourists.
Cultural festivals, African cuisine projects, cultural villages, heritage routes and storytelling are some of the activities which the Department is fostering.
Capital spending on the construction and maintenance of libraries, archival buildings, museums and theatres will grow 100% from 2002/03 to R189 million in 2003/04.
A new policy for funding orchestras stresses cooperation between national, provincial and local government. In 2002, an agreement in terms of this new policy resulted in KwaZulu-Natal receiving a grant from national government of R3 million. In 2003, this will be extended to the Western Cape and Gauteng, with agreements between local, provincial and national government to ensure a further R6 million is allocated.
The total budget for Performing Arts Institutions is approximately R80 million per annum.
National Symbols
The National Anthem
The national anthem of South Africa is a combined version of two evocative but quite different songs, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (God Bless Africa) and The Call of South Africa (Die Stem van Suid-Afrika).
The Call of South Africa was written by CJ Langenhoven in May 1918. The music was composed by the Reverend ML de Villiers in 1921.
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika was composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Methodist mission schoolteacher. The words of the first stanza were originally written in isiXhosa as a hymn. It became a popular church hymn that was later adopted as an anthem at political meetings
The National Flag
The national flag of the Republic of South Africa was taken into use on Freedom Day, 27 April 1994 and was immediately taken to heart by the people as the most visible symbol of the new South Africa. The design and colours are a synopsis of principal elements of the country’s flag history. The central design of the flag, beginning at the flag-pole in a ‘V’ form and flowing into a single horizontal band to the outer edge of the fly, can be interpreted as the convergence of diverse elements within South African society, taking on the road ahead in unity.
The National Coat of Arms
South Africa’s Coat of Arms was launched on Freedom Day, 27 April 2000. A central image of the Coat of Arms is the secretary bird with its uplifted wings. Above the bird is the rising sun, a force that gives life while representing the flight of darkness and the triumph of discovery, knowledge, the understanding of things that have been hidden, illuminating also the new life that is coming into being. Below the bird is the protea, an indigenous flower of South Africa.
The ears of wheat are emblems of the fertility of the land while the tusks of the African elephant, reproduced in pairs to represent men and women, symbolise wisdom, steadfastness and strength. At the centre stands a shield. Above it repose a spear and a knobkierie. These symbolise the defence of peace rather than a posture of war. Contained within the shield are some of the earliest representations of humanity in the world. Those depicted were the very first inhabitants of the land, namely the Khoisan people.
The motto of the Coat of Arms, !Ke e:/xarra//ke, written in the Khoisan language of the /Xam people, means diverse people unite or people who are different join together.
Other South African national symbols
• national animal: springbok
• national bird: blue crane
• national fish: galjoen
• national flower: king protea
• national tree: real yellowwood
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