Before 1994, white South Africans – Afrikaners in particular – commemorated the Battle of Blood River on 16 December, also known then as the Day of the Vow or Geloftedag in Afrikaans. For conservative whites that day was equal to the Sabbath, a holy day to be respected and not disgraced by worldly activities.
In 1982, P.W. Botha was Prime Minister and apartheid still intact; yet, the status quo was challenged not only by black activists but also by white dissidents. Even in conservative Bloemfontein the waters were tested by a small group of progressive whites, who saw the need for social change. On the local pop music scene a few bands and musicians grasped that pop music transcended racial and class divisions. One such band was Image.
Formed in 1981, the band (Image 2) consisted of Hein du Plessis (electric lead guitar), Tertius du Plessis (drums), André (Diaz) Janse van Rensburg (rhythm guitar), David Mokhutle (keyboard), and bass guitarist and lead vocalist, Vic Carrasco. Born in Bloemfontein to Portuguese and Spanish immigrant parents, Vic (Image 1) – short for Vitoriano – has been a valued member of Bloemfontein’s Portuguese community ever since. Today, he is a well-known Bloemfontein businessman. Paging through a photo album with newspaper clippings of that memorable day, Vic reminisced about the excitement that preceded it. “It was big – we made history!” Vic said. The event was dubbed the “Multiracial Superstar Music Celebration ’82” and promoted in the local English media, notably The Friend. The local Afrikaans newspaper Die Volksblad ignored the event. In the days leading up to the concert, The Friend provided media coverage in the form of advertisements and reports about the bands and artists who agreed to perform (Image 3). The venue for the open-air concert was the South African Railways sports ground in the Hamilton industrial area near Rocklands (Mangaung).
Naming the event a “superstar music celebration” was no exaggeration: imagine the likes of The Rockets, Hotline, Margaret Singana and Juluka all performing on the same occasion in conservative Bloemfontein. In addition to Margaret, who was an international superstar known for hit songs such as Good feelings and Mama Tembu’s wedding, Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu of Juluka, as well as PJ Powers of Hotline were also established musicians. In fact, during the early 1980s they were the Who’s Who of the South African music scene. Needless to say, it was a great compliment for Image to be invited to perform at such a star-studded event. It was no surprise though; with their blend of pop, rock, reggae and jazz music styles Image was a firm favourite among local pop music fans.
While the superstar pedigree of the event was one thing, the fact that it was called “multiracial” was even more significant. In Bloemfontein, where black and white were still strictly separated by apartheid regulations, multiracial bands were unheard of. Vic explained that Image made history when it became the city’s and, in fact, the Free State’s first multiracial band. During that time this ‘achievement’ was certainly newsworthy: The Friend reported that Image “call themselves a multiracial band because they have a Black keyboard player”. Vic recalled that The Friend, which had a substantial black middle-class readership, was very interested in the band and made effort to promote them.
According to Vic, the band did not become multiracial to make a political statement but for a practical reason. For him and the other band members it was not about race but musical talent. Originally known as Satin Sounds, the band’s musical ability was hampered by the lack of a keyboard player. Vic had heard of David Mokhutle (Image 4), a gifted black keyboard player from Rocklands, who was a member of The Hectors during the late 1970s. Vic approached David, who agreed to join them, and a new band named Image was born. Vic said that David’s musical talent and strong jazz and reggae background became a major boon to Image; in fact, it improved the band’s musical capacity and expanded its repertoire. In addition, David was well received by the band’s predominantly white audiences.
Thursday 16 December 1982 was a sweltering high-summer day in Bloemfontein, but the heat did not deter the crowds. The concert was proudly advertised as “open to all races”, a phrase not often heard or seen in Bloemfontein then. While most of the city’s whites were spending the day in quiet solitude, local pop music lovers flocked to the railways sports ground in their thousands to rock and roll. An entrance fee of R5,00 – a small fortune at the time – was charged. According to newspaper reports more than 3,000 people, most of them black, attended the concert. Some even came from Lesotho to enjoy pop, soul, jazz, Afro-rock and disco music.
Despite being a relatively new band, Image (Image 5) was a crowd pleaser. The Friend reported that Image “thumped out some pretty solid reggae numbers and soon had people weaving and twisting to the beat”. Their rendition of Bob Marley classics such as Is this love and Jamming were well received. Image was followed by PJ Powers (Image 6) and Hotline, Margaret Singana (alias ‘Lady Africa’, Image 7), and then “the crescendo came with Juluka”, to quote The Friend. The crowd went wild when Johnny Clegg (Image 8) performed numbers from Juluka’s latest album, including Scatterlings and December African rain. The mood was exhilarating and otherworldly. It was as if the racial divisions of that time were temporarily transcended by the music because of its universal appeal.
The cherry on the cake for Vic and the other Image members was the picture of the band that appeared on the front page of The Friend the following day. Not Margaret Singana or Juluka or Hotline, but them! Taken on stage from behind the band with a view towards the crowd, the picture emanated a message of hope (Image 9). Below the photo the newspaper declared in bold black letters that the concert was a “big hit”. To crown it all, Image was also shown on national television during primetime news that evening. Armed with his camera, Vic took a picture of his television screen the moment the band was shown (Image 10). After 41 years he still cherishes the small snapshot because it froze a moment in time when music created common ground through which people could connect, if only for an afternoon.
Sources
Ballantine, C. 1989. A brief history of South African popular music. Popular Music, 8(3), pp. 305-310. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261143000003597
Clegg, J. 2021. Scatterling of Africa: my early years. Johannesburg: Pan Macmillan. https://panmacmillan.co.za/blogs/news/scatterling-of-africa-johnny-clegg-s-early-years
Free State Provincial Archives: The Friend Accession (A566): Photographs.
National Museum Oral History Collection: V.G. Carrasco, Bloemfontein, 21.11.2023.
Makurube, P. Lady Africa is waiting. Mail & Guardian, 18.12.1998. https://www.mg.co.za/article/1998-12-18-lady-africa-is-waiting (accessed 24.11.2023).
Pooley, T.M. 2020. Sikeyi: in memoriam – Johnny Clegg (1953–2019). Muziki, 17(1), pp. 131-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/18125980.2021.1895534
Powers, P.J. & Thamm, M. 2014. Here I am. Johannesburg: Penguin Books. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/book/pj-powers-here-i-am/9780143531524
The Friend, 7.12.1982; 9.12.1982; 16.12.1982; 17.12.1982; 18.12.1982; 20.12.1982.
Vic Carrasco Private Photo Collection.
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