South Africa mourns anti-apartheid trombonist Jonas Gwangwa

By Associated Press |

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Tributes are pouring in for South Africa’s Oscar-nominated anti-apartheid jazz trombonist and composer Jonas Gwangwa, who has died at the age of 83. With driving music that fired up Black South Africans’ resistance to repressive white minority rule, Gwangwa left the country rather than submit to apartheid censorship. Other prominent exiled musicians included Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim and Miriam Makeba. Gwangwa was praised by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for his creative genius and dedication to the freedom of all South Africans. Ramaphosa said in his tribute that Gwangwa’s musical activism was so potent that his home was bombed by apartheid forces in 1985.


Mogomotsi Magome for the Associated Press


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