Northwest Film Forum

Punk music and politics were bedfellows from the beginning: the Sex Pistols’ anthem, “God Save the Queen,” set down a manifesto for angry youth and their power, and though punk’s flame burned quickly, its imprint remained. Punk in Africa tells an unexpected and mostly hidden (even secret and banned) part of the story, the impact that punk had on southern African nations. 

While young people in the West started to pull away from traditional sources of institutional power as early as 1951, with the publication of On the Road (questioning authority, hitting the road, growing their hair and making rebellious music), institutionalized racism in South Africa held such rebellion under its thumb. The coming of punk rock in the mid-1970s inspired the youth of the country, for the first time, to create their own culture. The opportunity to speak truth to power, under a furious beat, had arrived.

Punk in Africa charts the rise of punk rock in South Africa and how it spread to Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Kenya, and shows the role the music played, rather amazingly, in the political struggles in each country, covering the most important bands, the tumultuous concerts they played and the legendary venues they played in. This is an alternative, and largely unknown, history of South Africa.

"Anarchy in the S-A!" —The Stranger Suggests