Trailer for Punk in Africa.
In 1976, as the Soweto Uprising was moving the anti-Apartheid struggle into a more militant stance, another revolution of sorts was starting in cities across South Africa. Inspired from abroad, but entirely filled with its own unique anger and outrage, punk rock exploded into a country where the Rolling Stones were banned from the radio. In their clothing and hairstyles, their lyrics and their decibel levels, these bands—with names such as Wild Youth, Gay Marines and National Wake—rocked the staid South African society with challenges to everything from censorship to lifestyles, and from religion to racism. Deon Maas and Keith Jones’ fascinating chronicle captures the development of what became a second front in the battle against the Apartheid state, while also looking at punk music in neighboring Zimbabwe and Mozambique and the role it’s playing in those societies today.