Johannesburg Theatre & Music History | Music concerts | #2

In amongst the theatre and music programs from White River (see my post of 24 November 2023) are an interesting lot from touring singers and bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Marlene Dietrich, Max Bygraves, Frankie Lane, Dutch Swing College Band, The Bachelors, Cilla Black, The Drifters, Frank Sinatra Jnr (his dad toured later in the early 1980s), Tony Martin, Freddy, Vicky Leandros, The Everly Brothers, James Last, Julio Iglesias and Boney M.

Entertainers (mostly) that my parents were probably more familiar with than me. Names I recognize from the charity shop record bargain bins, R5 each max. But in their day hugely popular, both here in South Africa and abroad.

The Drifters, a black American band, must have faced some opposition in the US and here in South Africa when they came in 1975. The U.N. blacklist of entertainers that dared to perform in South Africa started in the early 1980s. A blacklist that was largely ignored given the stellar acts that came to Sun City in the 1980s (including Queen). I’ll see if I can find some decent commentary on this blacklist. Echoes of the rebel sporting tours of the 1970s and 1980s, a subject very close to my irregular heart given our family’s connection through my Dad, Hugh Roy, to one of the major sponsors, Yellow Pages.

I wonder if any of these acts insisted on playing to multiracial audiences like some of the playwrights did for their plays that were performed in South Africa? Remember no mixed audiences back in those days. I’ll ask for wider feedback on some of the other FB forums I am part of. I’ll update this original post if I learn anything of interest.