Nomadic pastoralism, Arab trade, warring kingdoms and interethnic conflicts took hold in many parts of the African continent (1 stC-15 thC CE) and, as itinerant migrants and refugees from Northern and Eastern Africa journeyed south, South Africa diversified and Bantu speakers became the dominant linguistic assemblage in the region. Cave paintings in the Drakensberg Mountains from these times are thought to be mainly the work of shamans responsible for the physical and spiritual wellbeing of hunting bands and even include depictions of trance dances and ceremonies. 40,000-500 BCE possibly the oldest modern humans in evolutionary history). The earliest traces of South African cultural history can be found in the form of artefacts of the indigenous San, hunter-gatherers in the northern desert region, and Khoekhoe, herders and farmers in the southern Cape (c. Though rich in minerals and subtropical agricultural land, it is a predominantly urban society, with an urban population of around 65%, but, like many countries across the African continent, its rate of urbanisation has slowed in recent years (to around 1.5%) and so its rural populations are relatively stable. It has a highly varied topography including coastal plains, mountains, grasslands and deserts. As such, it is also multilingual, with 11 official languages including English, a variety of Bantu languages and Afrikaans, which developed primarily through the mixing of Dutch and indigenous languages. It is a multiethnic and multicultural society, made up of diverse African groupings including Nguni (Swazi, Xhosa, Zulu), Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana and Venda lineages, a white minority of European descent and an Asian minority from India and the Malay Peninsula. The Republic of South Africa is the southernmost country on the African continent and has a population of more than 55 million. South African music was also amongst the core powerhouses that fuelled the development of the ‘World Music’ movement in the 1980s and its musics continue to hold symbolic currency in the representation of ‘Africa’ in the global imagination today.
The songs of South Africa are renowned for the profound social and political role they played in the struggle against Apartheid rule. In the countryside, music remains a largely participatory and integral part of everyday cultural life and, in the townships and the modern cities, these deep-rooted traditions have given birth to a wide variety of popular music styles that proliferate across the country, in the global South African diaspora and in centres of ‘World Music’ around the world. South Africa is famed for its cultural vitality and musical richness.
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