The Soweto uprisings of 1976 were a turning point in South Africa's history, leading to the
ascendency of the African National Congress and PW Botha's political-military council as
opponents in the battle that would wage through the country until the late 1980s. It was also
an incredibly fertile year for jazz, as this album by Themba Mokoena illustrates.

But the optimism of the burgeoning jazz scene soon evaporated under the waves of repres-
sion and the evaporation of venues in which to practice and play. The commercial realities
of venues that were regularly targetted by authorities for allowing mixed audiences and
articulating a different vision of the future were tough.

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